The Knights of Gryffindor
by Regulus Arcturus Caesar
Summary: PostHBP. Harry, Ron and Hermione survive Voldemort's first attack and set out on their desperate attempt to destroy his Horcruxes. Ron and Hermione grow closer but find it hard to be together, while Harry tries to keep Ginny out of his heart and his quest
1. Journey's End

Author's Note: This is the first piece of fan-fiction I've ever written, but I won't ask you to be gentle. If there's anything wrong, let me know. All criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive.

_Disclaimer – I do not, have never, and never plan to own Harry Potter or any of J.K. Rowling's characters._

**Chapter 1 – Journey's End**

Harry James Potter was no stranger to intense unease. He had dealt with a permanently queasy feeling for weeks in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, before dispelling such anxiety by outmanoeuvring a vicious dragon. He had stood in a darkened Ministry of Magic library and contemplated the best way for him and his five magically-underage friends to escape from a posse of sadistic and unfeeling Death Eaters. He had even suffered the soul-sucking, stomach-wrenching horror of allowing a love rival to take his place on his own Quidditch team. Presenting him (at least in Harry's effortlessly pessimistic eyes) with a perfect opportunity to steal back Harry's beau-to-be.

But he felt that this particular bout of unease – the knowledge that his best friend was about to tempt the wrath of his mother on his account – filled him with a kind of hollow dread. At such a time when he knew his relations with the Weasley family would be strained – he had just effectively ended the happiest few weeks of his life with his ex-girlfriend Ginny, the youngest Weasley child and only girl, and would therefore have to expect a rather unpleasant backlash from her obnoxiously overprotective brothers – he was about to let Ron convince his mother that Harry needed his presence on a perilous, danger-fraught mission to destroy the soul of the greatest Dark Wizard to ever live, and such a reckless demand on Ron's account would no doubt be partially his fault for even coming up with the particular adventure in the first place.

Sighing, Harry heaved his trunk from the rack above his head as Neville Longbottom lugged his to the floor beside him, accidentally dropping it on his own foot with a loud yelp. Harry shot him a sympathetic smile and allowed him to squeeze out of the compartment through the tangle of people sitting there. Neville smiled shakily at everyone before muttering to them with a quaver in his voice, "See you all in September… I hope…"

"Hope to see you too Neville…" Ginny answered him with a sad smile. Everyone else nodded their agreement, although Harry did so rather half-heartedly. Neville smiled sadly again and walked out of the compartment, as Harry contemplated the fact that he might never see Neville alive again. He was a good friend and had been there for Harry on countless occasions, taking some serious injuries in the process. Neville had fought at the Department of Mysteries and at Hogwarts not even a week ago alongside Harry, and that simple fact made him one of the few people Harry could trust immovably. But now he might not see him again.

He turned his attention to the rest of carriage, his eyes immediately seeking out Ginny. She didn't meet his gaze, although she coloured slightly under his scrutiny. Harry admired her soft beauty, her hazel eyes glinting in the electric light, her wavy red hair dancing on her shoulders around her loose-fitting yet endearingly sexy black robes. Harry sighed for what might have been as Ginny whispered allowed Luna Lovegood to clamber out past her, shooting everyone in the compartment a dreamy smile and a relaxed "goodbye!" before leaving without much aplomb.

That just left Harry with Ginny – his former girlfriend who he desperately wanted to slam against the door and kiss her senseless – Ron – his best friend, and who might soon be responsible for his premature death – and Hermione Granger – the brightest witch in his year at Hogwarts and also a loyal and uncommonly pretty best friend. Each was special to Harry in a way his respect for Neville and Luna wasn't, in that he loved them all dearly and would happily give his life to save theirs.

"Well, Harry, mate, I reckon we'd better get this over with" Ron grumbled, recognising the imminent danger for what it was. Harry wondered if he'd gave much thought to what this would do to his own relationship with Mrs Weasley.

Hermione smiled sympathetically at Ron and said bracingly, "Well, I have to try and convince my parents too, Ron; at least yours know what we're getting ourselves into, my parents won't have a clue what Voldemort or Death Eaters or Hor…" Hermione instantly fell silent at a glare from Harry, and cast a glance at a thoroughly distracted Ginny, who nonetheless had picked up on Hermione's sudden hesitation. "Hor… rible things he might do to us if we should… should fail…" she finished lamely.

Harry frowned at what that implied, and Ginny, unsurprisingly, was very quick off the mark. "Fail at what?" she asked immediately, earning a warning look from Ron.

"Ginny…" he cautioned.

"No, what are you lot talking about? Hor-what? What might you fail at?" Her eyes were smouldering as she glared at a slightly embarrassed but defiant Hermione, a snarling Ron and a thoroughly guilty-looking Harry.

"It's… I'm sorry Ginny, but we can't tell you…" Hermione managed to squeak out, aware of what she was provoking.

"Oh I see! Am I too young, is that it Hermione? Is it too sensitive for little baby Ginny's ears?"

"No, Ginny…"

"Or is it some kind of secret Order mission that you have to be 17 or Harry-fucking-Potter to hear about?" Ginny was suddenly hysterical with rage, as though she'd been brimming all day and this was her suddenly bubbling over. Hermione looked thoroughly shocked at Ginny's sudden ferocity, and Ron looked furious, but before he could shout at Ginny, Harry stepped in.

"The less people who know, the safer the secret is. And if you don't know, then you're a lot safer than us, Gin…" He had a sudden feeling that this was the wrong thing to say, because Ginny's eyes suddenly flashed and Harry caught a strong blast of hurt emanating from her hazel orbs, before she became instantly enraged again.

"Oh, this is to _protect_ me, is it Potter? See, you seem to have my very best interests at heart these days, don't you? First you dump me in the middle of a _funeral_ to 'protect me'…"

"Hey, wait, you said…"

"… and now I'm to be kept in the dark YET AGAIN over some secret mission that only the fabulous "Golden Trio" can know about…"

"Golden Trio?" Hermione muttered to herself, clearly steeling herself for something.

"… once again to _protect_ _me._ Well thanks very much, Boy-Who-Fucking-Lived, but in case you haven't yet noticed, I perfectly capable of protecting myself! I don't need any of you to watch out for me! I'll be 16 before the summer's out, the same age as you are now, so don't give me any crap about 'the less you know'. In one day, I've had my heart broken, my pride insulted and my unimportance confirmed by the one guy I think I truly love… well Harry, from one broken heart to another, here's a present to remember this!"

Ginny plunged her hand into her robes, and before Ron, Hermione or Harry could act – before any of them could even contemplate the fact that Ginny was drawing her wand on Harry, she screeched "_Pipinostrelles!" _The Bat-Bogey Hex hit Harry squarely between the eyes and he shrieked in pain as huge flying bogies in the shape of small bats erupted from his nose. Ginny gave a wrenching sob and lugged her trunk behind her, storming from the compartment with tears of fury in her eyes as Harry drew his want to blast the small flying mucus-bats out of the air with some well-placed Reductor Curses. His attempts, however, only left the three of them covered in Harry's mucus and Hermione was forced to cast a complex Freezing Charm – "_Immobilus!"- _before they could be Vanished with a wave of Ron's wand.

Hermione and Ron were now staring incredulously at Harry, who felt as if he'd just been kicked hard in the groin. Ginny had just revealed to them that they'd broken up, and worse, she'd made it sound as though he was completely heartless about it. Ron would surely be furious and Hermione would definitely have questions, but would Harry be able to answer them satisfactorily, or would his two greatest friends be so angry at him that he'd have to face yet another spell at the Dursley household all alone?

_This is an incantation I invented. I tried to create a word that had something to do with Bats and the nose, so I merged the word "Pipistrelle" which is a small bat, and "nostril" to create "pipinostrelles!" It's the invented incantation for the Bat-Bogey Hex._

**All reviews welcome, of course. This is just a short chapter to ease you in, if there's potential then I'll post the second.**


	2. The Parental Inquisition

_Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter_

**Chapter 2 – The Parental Inquisition  
**

Ron found himself grating his teeth and seething with anger over so many things that he felt he might burst at the seams. First of all, he was angry at his sister for losing her temper in such a furious way at _Hermione_ of all people, and although he knew that their relationship was none of his business, he felt that after everything Hermione had done for Ginny, that she might treat her with a little respect. Secondly, he was angry at Hermione for bringing up their mission _and_ the Horcruxes right in front of Ginny, provoking what was sure to be an unbearable barrage of questions from his youngest sibling. Finally, he felt an unhindered and potentially violent rage at the news that Harry Potter had broken his sister's heart and _dumped her at Dumbledore's funeral!_

His eyes snapped to Harry the second Ginny had left and he let him know just how furious he was with his best mate for hurting his sister, when he saw the look of arid desolation in Harry's gaze. He looked just as heartbroken as Ginny had, and suddenly the rest of what Ginny had said hit Ron in the face, somewhat delayed after the initial information about their break-up.

"You broke up with Ginny to protect her from You-Know-Who, Potter?" he spat, a tad harsher than was necessary. Harry seemed surprised at his vehemence, but he answered Ron levelly.

"Yes. If she was my girlfriend that would make her a natural target for Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

Ron winced only slightly at the sound of Voldemort's name, but when Hermione clucked her tongue beside him, he whirled around, expecting to have to defend his wince. Hermione, however, was glaring at Harry.

"You really believe that, don't you Harry?"

"That Ginny would be in unnecessary danger if she was with me? Yes, of course she would…"

"And has it occurred to you that she's already a target for Voldemort?"

"Not as much as she would be if she was with me. Now I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"But Harry, for goodness' …"

"I SAID DROP IT, HERMIONE!" Harry roared at the top of his voice, surprising the hell out of Ron and causing him to drop his trunk on his foot. Several passers-by in the corridor peered through the glass at them, but Ron snarled at them and fingered his prefect's badge, and they quickly scampered. He turned back to look at a extremely vulnerable looking Harry, who seemed to be struggling not to break down, and at a positively fuming Hermione, who was nonetheless biting her lip to keep from antagonising Harry anymore. He felt the need to intervene.

"Hermione, drop it. We'll talk about this later, at the Dursley's. Right now, we need to focus on convincing our parents…"

Hermione narrowed her gaze at Harry, who stared back unflinchingly, anger emanating from him, and her glare suddenly softened. She turned to look at Ron with a sparkle in her eyes, which might have been a tear but Ron suspected was some deep well of sadness that she kept bottled up. He was surprised at his own perceptiveness but the gaze fixed upon him suddenly turned all his thoughts to much as he felt his breath hitch under the intensity of Hermione's gaze. Gulping, he tried in vain to break the sudden bond the two of them had found, but Hermione managed it first, her eyes conveying her very deep regret at having to do so. Or was Ron imagining that?

"You're right Ron. Harry, I'm sorry… I know this isn't easy for you… but I _will_ talk to you about this later!" she said adamantly, her eyes flashing. Ron suddenly felt his arousal triple, and he couldn't understand it. Hermione's fierce gaze at Harry pushed so many of his buttons that he had trouble containing his sudden urge to maul Hermione right there on the carriage seat, but he thankfully restrained his less-than-idle hands. Breathing heavily, he ripped his gaze to Harry, who was looking sullen.

"Fine Hermione, we'll _discuss_ it…" he said moodily, then turned his eyes to Ron. His expression showed a sudden puzzlement, followed by a quick flick of his eyes to Hermione, then unmistakeable amusement in his eyes, even if it didn't carry to his grin. "Hey Ron, why are you all red? A little hot under the collar?"

Harry's grin suddenly returned full-force as Ron glared at him, feeling his colour suddenly intensify. He stoically avoided Hermione's curious gaze and lugged his trunk out of the compartment, muttering about Harry and all the hexes he'd like to hit him with. Harry gave a rare chuckle of amusement and allowed Hermione to leave the compartment before him, which attracted Ron's attention primarily because Hermione gave him a curious smile and said "That's very gentlemanly of you Harry, thank you!" She flashed him a timid smile which he returned with a massive grin as his eyes flicked to Ron, who felt like he was suddenly bubbling over and icily cold all at once.

He didn't even realise Hermione had smiled at him as she left the train, because his gaze was narrowed so intently on Harry, who was uncharacteristically beaming. Ron wasn't sure he liked Harry's only source of amusement being taunting Ron about Hermione. Steaming at him, Ron leapt off the train and scanned the platform for his parents. Hermione urged him and Harry on, before breaking off to talk to Mr and Mrs Granger, who waved merrily at Harry and Ron. Ron smiled stiffly at them, still unhappy, while Harry shot them a wide grin. Ron watched with a rather vicious pleasure as Harry's grin faltered under Mrs Weasley's intense gaze, as his eyes travelled to Ginny, standing at her side and staring at the ceiling forcefully. Then Ron felt his heart sink as he realised that he was about to demand the right to go off on a dangerous mission with Harry and Hermione while his mother was angry.

Oh great. Dead before I even get my Apparition License.

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Hermione found herself shaking slightly as she approached her merrily grinning parents, happy to see her after a year of school. A slight splinter of guilt surfaced, mainly due to the fact that she'd hardly seen her parents in the last year, except during the Christmas break, and here she was dodging off again. However, she assured herself that the only place she could be without feeling twenty times the guilt she felt now was with Harry. Her loyalty lay with him.

Sighing, she greeted her smiling parents. "Mum! Dad! Hi! I missed you both so much!" Embracing them both in a wide hug, she savoured the last time she might see her parents for a long time. And then she was stung with the sharp thought that she might _never_ see them again if she went off with Harry. Suddenly terrified, she spluttered out the first thing she could think of, even if it wasn't completely true. "Uh, Molly Weasley wanted me to invite you both to her son and his fiancé's wedding this summer!"

Both of them traded confused glances, before her mother said sweetly to Hermione; "Honey, Molly and Bill already invited us. Bill said he couldn't have his wedding without you there, and Molly was happy to invite us. When did she say to you to invite us?"

"Er…" Oh great. Way to put your foot in it Hermione. "Er… she asked me before term was over to write a letter, but I thought it'd be better if I asked you in person. I didn't realise they'd already done it. That's great. You're going, right?" she added warily.

"Of course darling, of course." Her father this time, smiling sweetly at her as well. But there was a genuine fondness in his gaze. She'd always had a lot of time for her father, he was an immensely intelligent man and knew when and when not to be patronising. Although she hated pet names, darling was what her father had always called her and it seemed natural. "In fact, that young Bill Weasley assured us that his youngest brother would be quite out of sorts if his… ah, how did he put it dear? Beau-to-be wasn't present!" He laughed jovially and then fixed Hermione with a piercing stare, which she felt herself heating up under. "Something you'd like to tell us about you and Mr Ron Weasley, darling?"

"Dad! Ron and I are just good friends!" Now she was definitely blushing. Her mother was looking at her, and then glancing over at the Weasley clan surreptitiously and smiling even more widely.

"He's a very _handsome_ friend, wouldn't you say Hermione?" Her mother's eyes twinkled as Hermione turned her gaze stony.

"Yes Mum, he's very attractive. In fact, he had to beat the girls off with a stick this year. So did Harry, mind you, although Harry has eyes for only one girl: Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister."

"Yes dear, we met Ginny moments ago. She seemed like a very intelligent young women, although a tad out of sorts about something…" her father mused.

"Her and Harry had a falling out. But speaking of Harry… er… Mum… Dad… there's something I need to tell you…"

"Hey! Hermione! Er, can you bring your parents over here? I'd feel better if we did this one together…" Ron was suddenly muttering in her ear, and she felt her heart leap right out of her chest. Her blush only intensified upon having Ron so unnaturally close to her, and she turned to face him, suddenly aware of how close their faces were. She froze and stared into his piercing blue puddles, before her mother cleared her throat softly.

"Oh! Hello Mr and Mrs Granger… er… lovely to see you again…" Ron mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.

"Nice to see you too Ronald… my, haven't you grown into the handsome young man! So tall and strapping!" Mrs Granger was fixing Ron with an amused grin, which he suddenly wavered under.

"Um… thank you? Er… gee Mrs Granger, I'm not used…"

"Don't mind my wife, Ron. Granger women tend to be rather too attracted to redheads. I had to wrestle Alison away from her fixation with a young man named Leonard, who just happened to be immensely attractive and played football… and of course, had red hair. Luckily, brains beat bulk in the end. Granger women also tend to like the intelligent types."

Hermione's closed her eyes in mortification at the twinkling look in her father's eyes as he winked at her, then captured Ron's gaze. He had gone rigid at her side, evidently as embarrassed as she was at the sudden discussion about the preferences of Granger women, which Hermione had to admit were disturbingly accurate. Ron's firm, quasi-muscular body, his flaming mess of red hair and his latent but nonetheless expansive intelligence were some of the things she found unstoppably desirable about him. But his sudden embarrassment surely showed that he was disturbed by the thought, right?

Ron had dropped plenty of hints over the previous year that he was just as interested as she was, but he tended to avoid a direct confrontation of any feelings. Hermione wasn't stupid – she recognised male attraction when she saw it, having observed Harry fall to pieces over first Cho and then Ginny; but at the same time, she highly doubted that Ron's attraction to _her_ was little more than a passing fancy. She knew that Ron could never return the intensity of feelings she felt for him, and was utterly saddened by it.

"Mr and Mrs Granger… would you mind coming over here for a minute? Er… Hermione and I have something to discuss with you both, and my parents…" Ron's voice broke her reverie, and she fixed her eyes upon him, as he shiftily avoided her gaze, crimson with embarrassment. She pretended not to notice, and turned her eyes upon her parents, who were looking at her quizzically.

"Of course, Ronald. This seems most interesting."

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Harry felt like sinking into a hole in the ground to escape the sheer awkwardness of this situation. He wasn't sure what had been communicated between Ginny and her mother, but he sensed that Molly was very much of the opinion that is was his, Harry's, fault. Therefore, the fact that Ron and Hermione – or rather, Hermione with Ron grunting his agreement in a small voice every few seconds – were appealing their parents to allow them to go and stay with Harry until Bill and Fleur's wedding made him feel like some kind of unwelcome slug. He was sure Mrs Weasley wouldn't hate him for breaking Ginny's heart, but Ginny was her only daughter, and there was sure to be some kind of bias there. Furthermore, the fact that he was dragging Ron and Hermione along with him to the Dursley's… and they hadn't even got to the question of the Horcruxes. Harry tuned out slightly until Hermione brought it up tentatively.

"Uh… well, unfortunately that's not all, Mum, Dad, Mr and Mrs Weasley. Er… there's something that comes _after_ Bill and Fleur's wedding…"

"Oh? What could come after? Staying at Harry's until school restarts?" Mrs Weasley grated out, glaring at a thoroughly diminished Ron. Hermione coughed slightly and continued. "No… actually… see… we're not going back to Hogwarts…" she finished in a very small voice, glancing between the stunned face of Mrs Weasley and her very surprised faces. Arthur Weasley just looked extremely grim at this news.

"Not… going…?" Mrs Weasley appeared lost for words.

"Hermione, dear… if you're not going back to school, where are you going?" her mother asked tentatively. Harry saw a sudden danger in the situation, and suddenly called out to his best friends.

"Ron, Hermione, cast _muffliato_ on the people in the station, will you?" he implored. Hermione's visage instantly darkened, but she gladly cast the curse upon those people remaining on Platform 9¾, while Ron cast it upon those students still filing from the train. Hermione turned back to the parents, but Ron suddenly seemed to have found his voice.

"We're going with Harry, Mum, Mrs Granger. We're going with Harry to destroy Lord V-Vol… V-Voldemort…" Ron struggled to form the last word, but when he finally said it, he seemed astonished at himself. Harry amused himself for a second at the look for incredulous admiration on Hermione's face, before turning to the utterly stunned parents. Harry had expected Ron's little surprise; he'd heard him practising under his breath on the train after Hermione had snapped at him about calling him "You-Know-Who" all the time.

"… Ronald. _Bilius. WEASLEY!_ I hope you have a very good explanation for what you just said!" Mrs Weasley was suddenly enraged, towering over Ron, who, to Harry's utter astonishment, was not cowering in the slightest. Rather, he held his mother's gaze steadfastly and replied calmly as you come.

"I do. Professor Dumbledore supplied Harry with information he kept even from the Order of the Phoenix. Harry, and in turn Hermione and I through the fact that he told us, are the only people apart from Voldemort himself who know how to destroy him. We're also the only people who know WHY Harry has to destroy Lord Voldemort, since Harry also told us what the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries contained."

Harry could tell that the Weasley parents were utterly flabbergasted by this news, but Mr and Mrs Granger looked bemused and were staring at Hermione quizzically. "Hermione, dear…" her father started tentatively. "We know who Lord Voldemort and Professor Dumbledore are, since the former told us about the latter, but… why on Earth are you, Ron and Harry the only ones who know how to defeat him?"

Hermione met her father's gaze and said, "Sorry dad, but that's not something I can divulge. All you need to know is that Professor Dumbledore has given Harry the tools to finish Voldemort once and for all, and that Ron and I will stand at his side until the bitter end. We'll fight Lord Voldemort with him."

"You… you'll fight… but I thought Voldemort was an extremely dangerous Dark wizard, protected by a horde of his… what were his henchmen called?" asked Mrs Granger, seemingly overwhelmed.

"Death Eaters," supplied Ron quickly. "And you should know Mr and Mrs Granger, that Hermione is immensely capable of taking on Death Eaters. Last year, she, along with Harry, Ginny, myself and two others took on about twenty of them in the Department of Mysteries and emerged alive and in the end victorious. We fought them again last week, and… although we didn't win, we survived. We fought them on equal terms. But it ended in Professor Dumbledore's murder…"

"Dumbledore! Dead!" Mr Granger seemed astounded, as his wife was mouthing wordlessly. Hermione's whole face darkened as she nodded, before turning her blazing eyes upon her father.

"And that's why we're going with Harry. Only he can beat Voldemort now, and he can't get there alone. Harry trusts Ron and me above all others and we'll be the ones fighting Voldemort with him. There's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise, Dad, since I'm 17 and a legal adult in the Wizarding World."

"But not in our world, Hermione! You're not 18 yet!"

"No, but I don't live in your world anymore, Father. I'm an adult witch, and my first truly important decision is to go on this potentially life-threatening mission with Harry, to end the threat of Lord Voldemort once and for all."

Everyone apart from Ron, Harry, and – to Harry's surprise – Ginny appeared flabbergasted. Bill, Fred and George were all gaping at Ron, as though they'd never seen him before, as he stood there impassive against his mother's rage.

"RONALD WEASLEY! I AM NOT ABOUT TO PERMIT YOU TO THROW YOUR LIFE AND YOUR EDUCATION AWAY OVER SOME HALF-BAKED ADVENTURE TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!" she roared, causing all Ron's brothers to flinch horribly. Ron, however, appeared enraged, but did not deign to shout at his mum.

"Oh yeah? Well, if I don't go, then Harry and Hermione go without me. And them the next thing you know, I'll have Apparated from the house as soon as I can and beside them all the same. I'm 17, mum, an adult. I'm going with Harry."

Mrs Weasley spun around to face Harry, who, like Ron's brothers, almost recoiled, but he held himself in check and met Mrs Weasley's barrage head on.

"HARRY, WHAT IS THIS MADNESS!"

"Madness!" Harry snarled, instantly icy. "You call the very thing Professor Dumbledore died for, madness!" Mrs Weasley was struck dumb by this fact, and she wavered suddenly under Harry's fury. "Molly, I'm not going to demand that Ron be allowed to come with me. But whichever way you and Ron resolve this, I'm going as soon as I turn 17 and as soon as Bill and Fleur are happily married. I'm leaving right away after that, going to destroy Voldemort with whoever I trust and is able to come with me."

"I'll be there Harry" said Hermione, automatically. She turned to Harry with a tear-laced expression, and Harry felt his heart go out to the sister he never had. He smiled with an expressionless gratitude and felt a tug at his heart at the loyalty and love Hermione was showing him.

"As will I. No matter what my mother says, I'll be there Harry." Harry shot his eyes to Ron, who was wearing a stony yet determined expression, and Harry felt similarly touched by Ron's loyalty and love for him.

"We'll be there Harry," Fred and George suddenly piped up, to the outrage of their mother. "If you'll allow us to be…"

Harry's surprised eyes travelled to the twins, but he found their loyalty less encouraging. He would very much like to have Fred and George on his side, but he couldn't trust them with the information he kept. Not that they were untrustworthy, but that they didn't deserve to be embroiled this deep in this. "No. Thank you both for the offer, but I'll have to decline. You're both valuable members of the Order, and Ron, Hermione and I won't be joining the Order for this."

Ron and Hermione gave him surprised glances, but he waved them off with an "I'll tell you later" look because Ginny had just met his gaze for the first time since he'd left the train. He was frozen by the force of love and pain and devotion emanating from his lithe figure, and he suddenly realised how desperately he wanted to be with her. The knowledge only deepened his hate for Voldemort, knowing that the evil Sorcerer deprived Harry of everything he'd ever wanted.

"I'll go Harry. Whether you want me to or not." Ginny said it almost like a command, but Harry – as much as it pained him to do so – refused her immediately.

"No way Ginny. You're underage. You can't do magic outside school."

"That didn't stop me in the Department of Mysteries!"

"No, but the Ministry only detects underage magic if the underage witch or wizard is in a sparsely populated area, in terms of wizards. They can't detect who casts the charms, which is why magic in the Ministry is hardly considered by them."

Ginny seemed surprised by this, but instantly narrowed her eyes. "Then why can't I go? They'll think that it's just you lot casting the spells…"

"Simple. You're not an adult. Therefore your mother's opinion on the subject is paramount, so I suggest you take it up with her. I'd gladly have you along, but your parents will never allow it." Molly Weasley shot him an appreciative look, but Harry only had eyes for Ginny, who was staring at him, lost for words. He tried to convey his strong desire for her not to force him to decide whether she came or not, but he wasn't sure the message got through, because he could see her instantly scheming.

Sighing, Harry turned to his two best friends. "Ron, Hermione, shall we go so hello to my Aunt and Uncle? If they haven't already left…"


	3. The Whispering Locket

**Thanks for the reviews; it's good to know that people actually like my "setting the scene" chapters. I won't reply to every review but I will say thank you very much for commenting. Every comment means a lot to me. **

_Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter or his world. The plot alone is mine._

**Chapter Three – The Whispering Locket**

Harry was not at all surprised to find that the Dursley's were no longer waiting for him at the entrance to King's Cross Station, where his Uncle Vernon generally stood. Harry could think of two reasons for this: firstly, that the Dursley's had grown tired of waiting for Harry to emerge from the platform and had left huffily; or that they were completely unaware that term had ended unceremoniously early, and that they were due to pick Harry up today. Either way, he now had no concrete way to get to Privet Drive for the next few weeks, simply because only Hermione could Apparate legally out of the three of them, and she was the only one who had never been to Harry's summer home.

Ron, of course, offered to Apparate Hermione anyway, allowing Harry – who had informed Ron and Hermione of the need to Apparate without a license a week ago in order to get Dumbledore safely back to Hogwarts – to Apparate alone, but Hermione wasn't having it. She and Ron grumbled audibly at each other as Harry tried to think of a way to get there, when he spotted the Weasley clan leaving the platform, having stayed behind to finish a hurried discussion on what had transpired.

"Ron, couldn't your brothers and father Apparate us there? They've been in the living room…" Harry suggested, his eyes on Fred, George and Arthur Weasley. Ron seemed to consider the idea uneasily.

"I 'spose Harry… but I'm Apparating with my dad, there's no way I'd trust either Fred or George to Apparate me anywhere…" Ron looked genuinely horrified at the idea, causing both Hermione and Harry to laugh at his reaction. He scowled at Hermione, before muttering to Harry, "all right, but you ask them. I'm not up to approaching my mother right now…"

"Ron, your mum won't say a thing, you both agreed to discuss it at the wedding, right?" Hermione put in helpfully.

"That won't stop her getting a few choice words in" Ron grumbled at Harry. Then he took a deep breath and marched with Hermione behind Harry, clearly steeling himself.

Harry heard Hermione swatting him on the arm and telling him to "stop being so immature", but he didn't think much about that. He focused on speaking directly to Arthur.

"Mr Weasley!"

"Oh, hello you three. What's the matter?"

"Er… my Aunt and Uncle aren't here, Mr Weasley, they… I'm not sure they knew that term ended early…"

Mr Weasley frowned at this, looking at the floor for a second before meeting Harry's gaze. "Impossible, Harry, Minerva McGonagall sent out letters to everyone in the school's guardians informing them of the circumstances. So how your Aunt and Uncle could not know…"

"They aren't… er… very receptive to anything magical… particularly owl post. I'd imagine they'd probably send the owl away with the letter, rather than read it." Harry grinned sheepishly, recognising that two powerful wizards and a brilliantly talented witch were about to land themselves on the Dursley doorstep whether they liked it or not. "I was… er… wondering if you and Fred and George would mind Apparating the three of us there? Only Hermione has her license and she's never been to Privet Drive…"

"Anything we can do to help Harry, mate" said Fred almost instantly.

"Definitely, Harry. Even if this is all we can do for you, we'll do it" agreed George just as readily.

Mr Weasley smiled at the loyalty displayed by his boys before glancing quickly at the stormy frown of his wife, and faltering slightly. Then he fixed Harry with a warm gaze. "Harry, son, you need to go home anyway, so I don't think Molly will object if I take you home personally. And George and Fred are perfectly at liberty to Apparate wherever they want, and to take whoever they want…" He smiled falsely at his wife, before turning away, looking slightly disconcerted.

Mrs Weasley, however, had marched over forcefully. "In case you have forgotten, Arthur _dear_, Professor Dumbledore set up anti-Apparition wards around Privet Drive when Harry was a baby. You can't just Apparate into the living room whenever you feel like it!"

Arthur frowned, and then looked at Fred and George. "You boys remember what the outside of Privet Drive looks like, I presume? Even if you did only get an aerial view…" his eyes twinkled as he observed the identical grins which cracked the faces of Fred and George, who both assured their father that they remembered what it looked like. "And I've done Order guard duty on Harry at Number 4, so I don't need to worry either. So, whenever you boys and Hermione are ready?"

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione, who both nodded, before he turned to look at Mrs Weasley to smile in slight apology – but his eyes were drawn to the tear-stained passion in Ginny's eyes, and he felt his heart stop momentarily. He maintained eye contact with Ginny, lost in the hurt and love emanating for her eyes, even as Arthur grabbed his arm and steered him into the corner, so as not to attract any Muggle attention. Fred and George did likewise with Hermione and Ron – who could be heard threatening George under his breath with various hexes if he took him anywhere other than Privet Drive, to which George replied "I know a handy little swamp not far from the Dursley house, Ronniekins, what's say we Apparate into the middle and I leave you there?"

"Hold on tight now, Harry" Mr Weasley was saying, as Harry gripped his arm tightly. He braced himself for the unpleasant sensation as Mr Weasley turned on the spot, and he suddenly felt like he was being compressed and squeezed through a very narrow tube, before he popped out with a loud crack and found himself facing the narrow flowerbeds and obsessively green lawns of Privet Drive.

Mr Weasley glanced about worriedly and muttered to Harry "Sorry Harry, didn't mean to Apparate into such an open area… I meant to try Magnolia Crescent…"

Harry didn't mind, and he experienced the surreal feeling of knowing he didn't have to face this ordeal alone when he heard two loud cracks some way down the road.

Ron finally let out the breath he'd been holding upon meeting George's mischievous gaze as he gripped his arm tightly and prepared for Apparition. His brother seemed to be watching Ron carefully, and suddenly entered into an elaborate routine of mock indignation at Ron's relief.

"Dearie me, Ronald! You can't imagine that Frederick or I would ever do anything to humiliate or embarrass our Ickle Ronniekins, can you? I find myself most offended, and would like to request a duel to recapture my honour!" George even huffed dramatically for effect, but he was cut off when Fred smacked him on the back of the head, surprisingly out of tune with his twin's antics. Ron suspected he might know the reason, mainly because he himself had experienced a mild annoyance at a similar incident.

"George, you might be my brother, but I'll hex you into next week if you call me Frederick again, clear?"

"Crystal, my dearest twin. You must excuse lil' Georgie his prank, he does enjoy being the only Weasley boy without an excruciatingly embarrassing full name…"

"No, but he does have plenty of excruciatingly embarrassing situations – especially involving female Muggle Post Office clerks - that his oh-so-loyal twin could relate to dearest Ronnie, here. Doesn't he?"

George paled slightly and narrowed his eyes at Fred, who grinned back at him widely, but Ron's grin was unmistakeably the biggest.

"Why can't you two fight with each other more often? I'm sick of being the target, I'd prefer if you exercised your sadism on the other sometimes…"

"Ah, but our dear brother! We have far more embarrassing situations to relate regarding you!" Fred said with a great flourish and a nasty twinkle in his eye.

"Yes, of course Ronnie. What about the burping slugs incident, in which you so valiantly defended dear Hermione's honour? Such a brave _friend_, eh Ron?" George raised his eyebrows mischievously and wiggled them.

"Or the time he nearly exploded when dear Hermione turned up with his former hero, dearest Vicky, while he was shunted off – deplorable this, George, it really is – onto one of the two most attractive girls in the year…"

"Ah, but Fred, we forget the best incident of Ron's astonishing loyalty to his _friend_ Hermione, when he mumbled her name oh-so-softly in his sleep following his poisoning… and with her in the room, no less!"

Ron felt himself instantly paling under this revelation. Where before he had been blushing crimson, he was now starting to feel slightly sick at what Fred and George were doing to him. He had done that while she had been in the _room_? Oh Merlin, had she heard? Please, for the love of Merlin, he hoped she hadn't heard.

Hermione, for her part, was standing off at the side, looking distinctly uncomfortable and avoiding Ron's embarrassed eyes, a slight flush permeating her cheeks. Ron didn't know what to make of that; was she feeling under pressure to perhaps relay to him that all his amorous advances were in vain, and that she harboured feelings of undying love for the hook-nosed, greasy haired Quidditch god? Or was she perhaps under the impression that Ron liked her as more than what Fred and George were so unsubtly suggesting he was forever, her friend? Was she disgusted or intrigued?

"I'm beginning to see a pattern in such intense acts of friendship, twin-of-mine…"

"I agree George, perhaps dear Ron her is harbouring…"

"THAT'S ENOUGH FRED AND GEORGE!"

The twins seemed visibly startled to hear the shriek of their mother echoing around the quiet alleyway, but they quickly traced the shrill roar to Hermione's vocal chords. Blinking stupidly, they faced Hermione, who looked very flustered but at the same time, was hiding a smile.

"We have more important things to worry about than whatever Ron is… 'harbouring'…"

"We might, but you, dearest Hermione, are surely very interested…" Fred snickered, but Hermione's wand was immediately on him, silencing him effectively.

"I said enough. Where are your dad and Harry?"

Ron – for the first time – realised than neither his father nor Harry were in the alley with them. "Hey, Hermione's right, where are they?"

"Maybe they were turned into a pair of chickens?" suggested George, with a strangely serious timbre in his voice. Ron and Hermione just stared at him dumbly.

"What kind of suggestion is that, George?" Hermione scoffed. "They're probably a bit further up the street…"

"Not possible Hermione, Dumbledore's Anti-Apparition wards only allow you to come this far away without his personal intervention. He always relaxed them for whatever Order member was on duty for Harry's guard, but Fred and I have given them a bit of a test out with that time. It turns you into a harmless chicken and your wand becomes a worm you desire to eat. A nice mix of humour and sadism, just like Dumbledore…" George trailed off sadly, his eyes darkening noticeably.

Ron broke the uneasy silence that had fallen, suddenly panicked. "Well, we'd better go find them quickly! Harry can't eat his own wand; he needs it to beat Voldemort! And without Mr Ollivander…"

"Quite right, Ron. So… which way is Privet Drive?" Hermione asked meekly, as it was clear she'd been steeling herself to drag the twins to Harry's house, before she realised she had no idea where it was.

"Up here, quickly!"

Ron, Fred, George and Hermione quickly ran the length of Magnolia Crescent before turning into Privet Drive, stuffing their wands into their jackets hastily and gazing around surreptitiously. They sauntered casually up the obsessively neat lane, in the full flush of a summer evening, casting a lovely amber light onto the monotonous and rigidly clean homes and making them seem almost welcoming. Ron, however, wasn't fooled. Harry had assured him that the Dursley's neighbours were hardly any different to the Dursley's themselves.

They finally spotted Harry and Mr Weasley watching them from the doorstep of Number 4, and Fred and George let out strangled roars of triumph and ran forward eagerly.

"How did you do it Dad?" Fred asked almost immediately.

"Yeah, we tried for ages for a way to mimic Dumbledore's Anti-Apparition charm to turn someone into something as a joke, but we never cracked it…" George supplied.

"But you and Harry seem to have beaten the charm altogether… how did you manage it?"

"Hang on Fred… do you think the charm doesn't apply to Harry?"

"Er… hadn't thought of that George… maybe Harry's exempt because this is his house…"

"Must be it…" George now sounded extremely gloomy.

"There goes another great idea…" Fred added, just as gloomily.

"Wait… you boys said that the Anti-Apparition wards had a specific effect? How would you know that?" Mr Weasley asked Fred and George sternly. They both stared blankly back at him.

"Er…" Fred started.

"Well, you see father…" George began, equally hesitant.

"We needed some new ideas…"

"And we know Dumbledore takes his security seriously…"

"And what with our new line of Defence Against The Dark Arts products…"

"Portable Anti-Apparition _jinxes_ rather than spells seemed like a good idea…"

"It's not genuine security, since the actual spell requires a wand…"

"But it's still a fun product…"

"You could put it on your room if you wanted some privacy, for example…"

"Anyone tries to Apparate in, and boom! They're suddenly a frog croaking on the floor…"

"Or a ferret bouncing around the room!" Fred grinned at Harry at this one, earning a laugh from him and Ron and Hermione. The twins both looked imploringly at their father.

"So you see dad, it was all in the name of science…" George pleaded.

"And we were trying to give people something to fight for!" Fred added apologetically.

"So naturally, our good intentions should keep Mum out of the conversation, right?" George said almost desperately.

Arthur Weasley raised his eyebrows at his sons, but suddenly became very stern. "Nice try boys, but where normally I can turn a blind eye to your more minor pranks, this one is too serious. You don't mess about with wards Dumbledore put on this place for _Harry's protection_. Your mother will find about this, and we'll both deal with you" he said with an air of finality. Fred and George looked notably dejected but didn't say anything audible. Arthur cracked a smile that they never seen, but then turned just as sternly to Ron, Harry and Hermione.

Ron, used to his father's brand of parenting – which involved letting his kids learn from their own mistakes, and had no doubt resulted in Fred and George, and inadvertently, Ginny – wasn't expecting any kind of serious lecture, but what he did get surprised him.

"Ron, your mother and I are trusting you to keep your temper here. No matter what these people do to antagonise you, they are still Muggles, and magic used against them could land you in serious trouble! I don't care if they treat you badly, or more importantly…" his eyes shifted to Hermione momentarily, and his stern demeanour was cracked with amusement for a second, before he was back to being stern with Ron. "If they treat Hermione badly, I want your temper in check!"

Ron spluttered in surprise. He gaped for a few seconds before discovering a suave response, far too late for it to be effective. His father raised his eyebrows knowingly as he answered. "So I have the freedom to lose my temper if they insult Harry?" Harry shot him an amused grin, but he noticed that Hermione was just as flushed as he was, and that Fred and George were doubled up in silent fits of laughter in the background.

"No, Harry, I'm sure, is very much used to such treatment. But I don't want any out-of-control chivalry, all right? Harry, of course, has no need of a lecture before you mention it Ron, because he's not 17 and knows of the trouble he'd get in. You have no such restraint, so I implore you to keep your temper and your wand in your pocket. Which goes for the three of you: Wands on you at all times and try to be in before dark. OK?"

Ron nodded sullenly as Harry and Hermione agreed with Mr Weasley's terms quietly. He smiled at the three of them then, giving them each a different grin. He gave Harry a very fatherly grin, but there was certainly an element of respect in that gaze, something that transcended quasi-family ties. Hermione received a very warm gaze, not unlike what Mr Weasley often gave Ginny, and Ron received the brunt of his father's affection, as he was pulled into an unexpected hug. He stiffened slightly, but hugged his dad all the same, mortified at such a show of affection in front of Harry. He shot him an apologetic gaze, but Harry's smile was one of warmth rather than jealousy.

"I'm very proud of all three of you. I remember when Ron was just a child, and when I met Harry and Hermione that first summer after your first year, 5 years ago. You've all grown into such fine young people, each with your own strength. You all feel like one of my kids. Ron, my youngest son; Harry, my adoptive son, and Hermione – well, you have your own parents, so I can't call you my adoptive daughter, but I feel just as strongly about you as I do Ginny. And I wouldn't say no to any kind of ambition you might have to join the family some day…" His eyes twinkled as he flicked them back to Ron, and Hermione flushed yet again. Ron's breath caught in his voice as he caught the real reason behind such taunts from his father and brothers, but he steadfastly avoided Fred and George's gazes.

"Dad!"

"All right Ron. I'll let you three go. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, and stay safe. Wands on you at all times and _stay together_ when you are outdoors. Now go, and we'll see you at the wedding."

Hermione was rather surprised about how tame that evening had turned out to be, despite the fact that an adult witch and wizard had appeared accompanying the boy Vernon and Petunia Dursley hated above all others. She had been startled by the level of neatness in the Dursley household, assuring the horrified Ron that not all Muggles was so obsessively clean, when Petunia Dursley had entered the living room to discover what the noise was. Harry had greeted his aunt monotonously and introduced her and Ron, to which she had no reply but a guttural chirp. Harry then informed her they'd be staying until his 17th Birthday, and that he wouldn't take no for an answer, and Aunt Petunia had all but fled the room. Hermione had seen her sitting anxiously on the phone, not talking as though she was waiting for someone to answer.

Later that night, the explosion Harry was expecting didn't come. His Uncle Vernon came in, stone drunk and jubilant at the latest England football victory, but he had virtually ignored the presence of three quasi-adult wizards in his kitchen. He had retired to bed early that night and hadn't at all noticed her and Ron's existence, which she was fine with. She expected, however, that Harry might be treated to the pointy end of Vernon Dursley's hangover when he sobered up, but Harry seemed supremely unconcerned about that.

Instead of fending off a Dursley temper tantrum, Ron Harry and Hermione spent the evening discussing everything: Dumbledore, the Horcruxes, possible locations, R.A.B., Voldemort and his Death Eaters, Snape's loyalties – which Hermione remained uneasy about, finding it hard to believe that Dumbledore could have been so blatantly wrong, while Harry and Ron were adamant that age had weakened Dumbledore's judgement – and what might be happening to Draco Malfoy.

It was during a reminiscence of all their particular run-ins with Malfoy that the subject of Ginny came up; Ron reminded Harry of the time Ginny had hit Malfoy with a perfect Bat-Bogey Hex in Dolores Umbridge's office, and Harry had instantly darkened. Normally, this sullenness would put Ron and her off from pushing the issue, but Hermione – not only for Ginny's sake, but for his own – just had to make Harry see sense.

"Speaking of Ginny, Harry, I believe you said we could discuss that when we got to the Dursley's?" Hermione glared at him, mustering all her indignation on Ginny's behalf and steeling herself to force Harry to see sense. Typically, he seized up at her challenge and glared back at her. She knew better than to look away.

"I did say that Hermione, but we're here for a month. Let's discuss it _some other time_, ok?" He said this in a very level tone, but Hermione could see the wariness dancing behind his emerald eyes. Gritting her teeth, Hermione prepared to push the envelope to its full extent.

"That's a very creative way of putting it off Harry, but I want to discuss it now. So we will." She dared him to contradict him, but Harry lacked the finesse that Ron had when it came to arguing with her. Where Ron got loud and obnoxious, and challenged her every argument, Harry simply ignored her arguments and refused point-blank to let her win.

"Putting it off? Putting what off? A discussion about _why _I had to make the hardest decision of my life with my now ex-girlfriend's best friend and her brother? Gee, you'll excuse me if the idea doesn't thrill me, Hermione…"

"No I won't, Harry Potter. You broke Ginny's heart today for _no good reason_. And I, as Ginny's friend, feel a need to knock some sense into your thick head!" Harry's sarcasm had angered Hermione, because if there was one thing she hated, it was being talked to as though she were ignorant of what she talked about. She didn't often argue with Harry, but typically, they were more explosive and involved a lot more personal attacks than her arguments with Ron; on the same vein though, Hermione often made up with Harry quicker because they could usually accept the other's viewpoint as different and ignore this difference. She doubted that would be the case tonight.

"Thick head? Hermione, you realise I broke up with her to _save her life_, right? I'm sorry if I'm so inconsiderate I think my girlfriend doesn't deserve to die…"

"Don't be so sarcastic with me, Harry Potter; you know _fine well_ that Ginny is just as capable of protecting herself as you are!"

"What's that got to do with it? I'm as susceptible to lose a fight with a Death Eater ambush as she is; what I did was decrease the chance of said ambush happening to her!"

"You didn't decrease anything Harry! Ginny's always been in as much danger as Ron and I and Neville and Luna; each of us has gone through this year as Death Eater targets, or potential ransom items against you!"

"Why the hell would Ginny, Neville and Luna be in as much danger? You two are my best friends, everyone knows that!"

"But maybe if you'd _think_ for a minute, Harry, you'd realise that Ron, I, Neville, Ginny and Luna were _all_ at the Department of Mysteries!"

"That doesn't matter, none of those Death Eaters who saw you lot escaped, and Bellatrix Lestrange only saw Neville; but Neville is the Longbottom's son, he's the only one besides me who has history with Voldemort's Death Eaters… so no Death Eaters who escaped saw you, Ron, Luna or Ginny. And since Voldemort knows about you two through Malfoy and Snape…" Harry's eyes widened as he stared into Hermione's triumphant chocolate ones, a certain sense of satisfaction coursing through her veins. Harry suddenly slapped his hand against his head and groaned loudly and painfully.

"Snape! Damn it, Snape knows she was there! He knows about Luna too!"

"Not only that Harry… Malfoy and Snape both know that you and Ginny were involved… romantically… and neither knows about your break-up…" Hermione said, suddenly nervous. She hadn't considered how much it would hurt Harry when he realised his mistake.

"They… oh Merlin… Snape knows _everything_. He knows about Neville, about Luna, about Ginny and me and about you two. He knows what my strengths are, he knows my weaknesses, he especially knows about my… my… _saving-people thing_…"

Hermione felt instantly guilty when he mentioned that, but she suppressed him, staring at Harry, waiting for his proclamation. When it didn't come, she decided to probe him a bit. "Harry? Harry, what are you thinking? You better not be blaming yourself!" she said, suddenly sternly.

Harry looked up at her in disbelief, and then shared a comical look with Ron that ended in the two of them grinning widely. Hermione was bemused by this action, but Harry quickly explained. "There's another thing as well. Lucius Malfoy knows about Ginny being taken in by the diary… and Dumbledore told me Malfoy told him what happened to the Horcrux in his old diary…"

"Well… well, there you go Harry. You needn't have broken up with Ginny. You've just given each other more heartache than you ever needed. For God's sake Harry, we're not going anywhere near the Horcruxes till' after Bill and Fleur's wedding, and that's not until late August… right?"

"We're going to Godric's Hollow first…"

"Right. So we are. But there's nothing to stop you being with Ginny until we go, is there? Harry, you need to stop letting Voldemort get in the way of your life! You deserve some happiness, and Ginny… well Harry, I've never seen you any happier than you are with Ginny!"

"I have to agree mate, Hermione's right." Ron piped in, the first thing he'd said in five minutes. "You're happiest when you're with my sister, and that's _very good_ for you mate. You've got so much shit on your plate…"

"Ron!" Hermione admonished.

"Sorry, love. You've got so much crap on your plate Harry, you hardly seem to be able to find any time for happiness. _None_ of it is your fault mate, not Cedric, not Sirius, not Dumbledore or any other V-Voldemort victim. It isn't your fault that Hermione and I are so entangled in this war. It's not your fault that Ginny, Neville and Luna are either. I would be involved anyway, as would Ginny, through our family. Hermione wouldn't have been able to stay out of the war effort, what with her brains. Neville's been involved in this since his birth, and Luna chose to get involved because she wanted to. Harry, don't you see mate? You're actually a good thing, because with you, we actually get to make a difference. No sitting around waiting to grow up while the grown-ups do the fighting. Hermione and I get to make a difference with you!"

Ron was so caught up in his monologue that he didn't have time to notice that he inadvertently referred to Hermione as "love", nor did he notice the incredulous stares from both Harry and Hermione, neither of which had paid much attention to his words. Harry's grin was huge and delirious, but Hermione felt like she'd just been hit with a heavy blow to the head.

_Did he just call me "love"? Since when was Ron so affectionate about me? I thought he just … well… fancied me… I never… pet names! Before we even go out? Does… does he think about us being together? Does this mean… he wants more than a quick snog? Could he actually reciprocate what I feel? No! That's getting your hopes up Hermione, you're not supposed to do that! SHAKE IT OFF!_

Hermione literally shook her head and began to profusely agree with Harry, her face a crimson mask as Ron looked bewildered at her embarrassment. He seemed to be retracing his words and she kept an eye on him while she spoke, waiting for the critical moment. "Harry, you deserve some happiness. And so does Ginny, come to that. Both of you have been through so much without one another; when you would have handled it so much better had you been together… don't let Voldemort take this from you Harry! He's taken _enough_!"

Harry stared back at Hermione, his emerald eyes swimming with unshed tears, and she felt her heart reach out and embrace him mentally. He had such a hard life, full of pain and loss that he didn't deserve. But what he said next really killed any anger she still nurtured. "He… that's what Dumbledore would have said… he'd have told me… love… it's the greatest gift…"

Harry suddenly dissolved into sobs, trying valiantly to get his tears under control, but Hermione was up and beside him, taking his head on her shoulder and allowing him some release. He desperately fought against it, and she didn't protest it; this was what Ginny would be here for him for, but she still could comfort him right now. He felt more alone than ever.

Ron, for his part, showed no recognition of the fact Harry was crying. He didn't turn away, embarrassed, or even show Harry any pity. He just flushed horribly when he realised what he'd said, and avoided Hermione's eye. She smiled at Ron's childishness, it being one of those endearingly sweet things about him.

Harry dragged himself back to the level of control, but didn't say much more than what had been said. He promised Hermione he would make amends with Ginny, since she was right after all, and then went to bed. Not feeling up to sleeping on the floor, Hermione then transfigured a pair of Harry's socks into single beds like Harry's and deposited them in the space in the room. This left negligible room, however, so Hermione magically expanded the room, then as an afterthought, created a wall to privatise her section of the room, to Ron's poorly hidden dismay.

"I'm a girl Ron, you wouldn't want to wake up to find me getting dressed, would you?" she said cheekily, cocking an eyebrow at him as he flushed visibly. She didn't know what made her say it, but somehow the idea that she could fluster Ron with a seemingly innocent statement was an immensely powerful feeling.

But the contentment at the developing situation between her and Ron – a situation she had long since classed as "with potential" after much insistence from Ginny and Luna and even Parvati Patil – seemed to evaporate after Hermione fell asleep.

Her dreams were troubled, starting off sweetly enough with a journey through a beautiful field, holding Ron's hand and feeling utterly content. But everything darkened; an ominous swirl of cloud shadowed the beautiful field, in which everything living died, until there were Death Eaters surrounding her and Ron. Draco Malfoy stepped forward, blasting her and Ron apart. She fought tooth and nail against the hooded figures, blowing them to pieces to get to Ron, but when she saw him at last, a man stood over him, protecting him. He wore Death Eater robes but there was a large, golden, gleaming locket that looked vaguely familiar around his neck and he seemed to draw strength from it. It flashed green and silver, and Hermione got close enough to see the seal of the Snake on it.

Slytherin's locket! Hermione felt the Horcrux whisper to her, like the wind, carrying one word across the wind like a soft breeze: "Arcturus". She didn't understand what it meant, but there could be no question that the man in front of her was the mysterious R.A.B. manifest in dream form. Suddenly, he turned, defending Ron and now Harry from an Avada Kedavra curse, and she saw his face for an instant, recognising the pallid skin and lank hair that marked him as a Death Eater, but at the same time seeing the grey eyes and strong jaw that marked him as a Black. _Regulus Black_. And all the while the word "Arcturus" whispering from the silver locket.

CRACK!

Hermione sat up suddenly, her eyes immediately going to the open window, where she was sure she had just heard that noise. Leaping from her bed, she clutched her wand tightly and looked around for the wizard who had Apparated. When she concluded that her room and Harry and Ron's were free of any unwelcome wizards, she crept towards her initial instinct – the window. There, peering out into the moonlit garden, she saw three hooded figures draped in black standing in the garden, one standing guard while the other two systematically tore down Albus Dumbledore's wards put in place for the protection of Harry Potter at Number Four Privet Drive from Lord Voldemort; a protection that no longer existed.

**All criticisms or comments welcome! And I promise some action in the next chapter…**


	4. Dumbledore's Legacy

**I said I wasn't going to answer every review, and I want, but I find myself wanting to address one. _Gag Hafrunt_, you are of course correct about the beau term, which has just confirmed for me. My thanks.**

**Major apologies to everyone for this taking so long. I suffered a bit of writer's block, but I managed to sort out the finer details of my plot while bored out of my skull at work. I should warn you that this chapter contains strong language and a reference to sexual assault; which is basically a warning that it contains a very unpleasant Draco Malfoy. I hope the wait was worth it, I really do.**

_Disclaimer – I don't own Harry Potter or his world. The plot alone is mine._

**Chapter 4 – Dumbledore's Legacy**

For the seventh night in a row that week, Harry's dreams made no sense to him. Where he had expected to be tormented by images of Snape and Dumbledore, Malfoy's cowardice, Greyback and Bill Weasley, Hagrid's burning house, Snape's uncommon magical abilities and Dumbledore's corpse trickling blood at the foot of the Astronomy Tower, in fact he dreamt of something utterly different.

He stood in a wide hallway, clutching what was unmistakeably the sword of Godric Gryffindor, the weapon Harry had pulled from the school Sorting Hat in his second year. Standing beside him were Ron and Hermione, dressed in medieval-fashion armour, both of them bearing Gryffindor's crest upon their chest and shield and clutching similar swords, not as fantastic as Harry's but nonetheless dangerous looking. Harry himself was dressed in gleaming armour, decidedly aged but carrying a massive scarlet Gryffindor lion and a helmet that fit his head comfortably without crushing it or being too big. All three of them carried their wand in their other hand.

Walking forward, Harry witnessed Dumbledore casting some kind of spell on a baby, shuddering as he did so as something brilliant and white flew from his heart and pressed into the child's. Harry had no idea who the child was, but he had a sinking suspicion that it was him, and that this might have been evidence of some kind of protection Dumbledore had invoked for him from Voldemort. He had no other conclusions to draw, but before he could contemplate it, he was always sucked into the closing stages of the dream, running down the massive hall, casting spells and cutting down Death Eaters armed in the fashion of Salazar Slytherin.

There Harry would encounter Voldemort, while Ron would tackle Malfoy and Hermione would fight Snape. The battle never ended, with Harry's armour protecting him from the various charms but in the end, he always managed to floor Voldemort and look straight into his eyes, and view himself dressed in Dumbledore's robes staring back at him, his own wand and Dumbledore's raised at Voldemort and a massive green flash which often shook him awake.

This time, however, Harry was jolted awake by someone grabbing his shoulders and desperately shaking him, as though imploring him to awake. He opened his eyes in a flash and was caught completely off-guard by Hermione's brown eyes, filled with sheer terror and desperation. Harry sat up immediately, understanding that there wasn't much that could terrify Hermione so irrationally.

"Hermione! What's the matter?" he asked urgently, but Hermione gestured to the window and made quiet shushing noises, which he respected. "What's the matter!" he asked even more urgently.

"Harry… there… outside, look outside!" she whispered frantically. Harry stared at her in surprise, unsure of why she was asking him this, but his hesitation made her mutter even more urgently. "Harry, there are _Death Eaters_ in the garden!"

His eyes shot open in astonishment, and instantly his head went to the window, keeping it down as he peered into the garden, where – sure enough – several cloaked figures had just Apparated into the garden, joining the original three, two of which were ripping through some kind of ethereal green fabric. _Dumbledore's wards_! Harry thought desperately. "Hermione, they're… they're destroying Dumbledore's protection!"

She nodded desperately at Harry, asking him silently what they were to do, but he knew she had a solution to the problem in her head already, she just hadn't realised it. "What do we do then, Hermione? They… they must be trying to get to me!"

"I know Harry, but… what about the Order guard? There must be one on duty!"

"Damn… I don't know… maybe we should owl the Order?"

"Harry! Hedwig would be spotted instantly; the Death Eaters would blast her out of the sky!"

"But Pigwidgeon wouldn't! Wake Ron, tell him what's happening and I'll write to Lupin and the Order!" Hermione saw the desperation in his eyes, and she leapt off his bed and ran to Ron, shaking him awake as well. Harry, meanwhile, pulled a sheaf of parchment towards him and a quill, and as quickly as he could, wrote:

_Remus,_

_**Death Eaters** in Privet Drive. Anti-Apparition wards dismantled. Call OOTP, we need help!_

_Harry_

Harry then ripped the piece of parchment from the greater whole and rolled it and sealed it, pulling Pig from his quiet dinner with a minute squawk and tying the letter desperately around his leg. "It's for Remus Lupin, Pig! Go quickly!" Harry then crept carefully over to the window, opening it silently just enough to let Pig out, and then closing it just as quickly. He risked a glance back down towards the garden but withdrew his head immediately as a Death Eater swept his wandlight over the windows. Harry saw that Ron looked stricken at the news Hermione was relaying to him, and when the two boys' eyes met, Ron suddenly went from mortally afraid to intensely determined. Harry shivered at the change, not wanting to think about it.

"Harry, mate, what are we going to do?" Ron asked, his eyes not losing their sparkling intensity. Hermione looked a little nervous, but it seemed she – like Ron – was waiting on his _orders._ Why were they treating him like a leader?

"I dunno, why are you asking me? You're the strategist!" Ron looked taken aback, and he glanced at Hermione as he always did when he was confused, but she seemed to have taken Harry's words as permission to speak.

"Listen, we need to get the Dursleys out of here. If the Anti-Apparition wards are down… but you two don't have your licenses…" she finished worriedly. Ron scoffed and Harry alleviated her fears by insisting that he'd Apparated before and that Ron wouldn't miss the other half of his eyebrow, which caused him to scowl.

They silently agreed to work together, but first Harry needed to get the Dursleys together in one place; thus, he found himself creeping towards Dudley's room, desperate not to make a sound, as Ron and Hermione sat in doorways on either side of the corridor with their eyes on the stairwell, the only gateway to the upper level. Dudley proved to be immovable, sleeping as though dosed with elephant tranquiliser. Harry eventually lost his temper and dragged Ron in to levitate Dudley into his parent's room while Harry took his place in the doorway of the bathroom, staying low in the dark. It was while doing this that he nearly gave away the fact he knew the Death Eaters were there.

The lights were dim and flickering – evidently wandlight – downstairs but they were coming closer to the foot of the steps all the time, as though the Death Eaters were progressing laboriously, waiting for an ambush. When the lights flickered up the stairs, Harry heard voices, voices he recognised, and he and Hermione exchanged a wild glance, before she immediately turned her look to one of caution. But Harry wasn't looking; he was too focused on the drawling arrogance that leaked from that voice like sludge from a sewage pipe.

"Knowing Potter's luck, he might be forewarned of our coming, but I doubt it. He's not any kind of brilliant mastermind; the best he can hope for is a vain charge in which he Stuns maybe three of us before we subdue him for the Dark Lord. His arrogance is astounding; he will believe himself invincible when in fact he won't be able to touch our Lord, not with a single curse." Severus Snape drawled lazily to his companions, who were unrecognisable to Harry in the dark, his mind reeling with rising anger as he considered how close his most hated adversary was. "Ravens, you and Carrows stay down here and protect the door against any Phoenix incursions. The Dark Lord must have uninterrupted access after he completes his mission with Amycus and Bellatrix. The rest of you will come with me to subdue Potter; he must be forced to face the Dark Lord alone, for that are our orders; any questions?" The disdain evident in Snape's voice basically forbid questions, but Harry didn't really notice.

All he really knew was that he was now standing in the centre of the hallway, his anger pouring out of him in a violent, porous eruption, and he bellowed down the stare, hatred dripping from his words, "SNAPE, YOU FILTHY COWARD! COME AND GET ME YOU DECEITFUL BASTARD!" Hermione looked immediately stricken at Harry's outburst, but she quickly composed herself and hid behind the door to the bathroom so as to give her the element of surprise. Harry realised that Hermione had realised that Snape and the Death Eaters assumed he was alone, which would work marginally to his advantage if Ron – who had just burst from the Dursley's room frantically at Harry's shout, and was now responding to Hermione's frantic gesticulations to hide behind the door to Harry's room – and Hermione could use their element of surprise.

"It would appear Potter lacks the subtlety for a surprise attack…" Snape's lazy drawl floated up the stairways, tinged with an icy fury he seldom kept in check. "It appears we shall have to curb his disrespect… as I said, Goyle, Travers, Gnarle and Ferguson, try and get in the windows at the back of the house; Kyrgiakos, Yaxley, Narcissa, Draco," - Harry's heart gave an oddly vertical leap into his chest as he realised that both of the murderers of Dumbledore were here – "Pernickle, Kova and Rosier, come with me to teach perfect Potter a lesson…"

There was muffled muttering amongst the Death Eaters, as well as the sound of people leaving through the back door of the house, before with a mighty roar of "_Mosmordre!_" they fired a huge, smoky Dark Mark into the house, which clouded Harry's vision before it seeped out through the roof and Harry was left with his wand pointed at the stairway, Ron and Hermione flanking him faithfully as he prepared to fight for his life.

_Yet again,_ he thought drily.

* * *

Hermione hardly heard the first spell Harry cast, too intent on stomping on her own nervousness at the possible fate of her two best friends, but she definitely noticed the massive flash of red light that accompanied Harry's shout and the crumpling figure of a woman in black robes, hit with a Harry Potter Stunner no less, hitting the floor. Instantly, she was lugged to a sitting position and revived, but Harry was relentless, casting spells into the mass of people but having most deflected. 

"_IMPEDIMENTA! FURNUNCULUS! LOCOMOTOR MORTIS!"_ Harry roared, firing curses at the equally fast Shield Charms being cast by the Death Eater mob. Suddenly, one of them roared "_PELLIO!"_ at Harry and hit him straight in the chest with the Banishing Charm and sent him flying down the corridor to land hard on the carpeted floor, skidding painfully until he hit the wall unceremoniously. Hermione nearly leapt out to help him then, but she caught Ron's eye and saw him shaking his head furiously and gesturing towards Harry. Hermione turned back to him with wide eyes, surprised as Harry had deflected another curse expertly and had now managed to lock the legs of the Death Eater Krygiakos together, but was forced to roll aside from a Stinging Hex thrown by Narcissa Malfoy.

The Death Eater mob began to close in on Harry, with Kyrgiakos, Yaxley, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, Pernickle, Kova, Rosier and of course, Snape, all advancing on Harry. As the last ones started to pass Ron and Hermione's positions at the doorway, Ron gave her a look of fierce determination that she found unbearably sexy, and she was struck by the fact that she could die tonight and have never told him how she felt. Or worse, _he_ could die. No, she didn't want to think about that. She had to protect Harry!

Hermione leapt from her hiding place as Snape passed her position, her wand raised at him as she cried "_Petrificus Totalus_!" catching him completely off-guard with a Full Body-Bind. Ron had struck Rosier in the back with a Stunner, slamming the young son of the former infamous Death Eater in Draco's back; saving him from the Impediment Jinx Hermione threw his way. Malfoy wasted no time, however, informing the Death Eaters of Ron and Hermione's presence.

"The weasel and the Mudblood are both here! Turn, you idiots!"

Harry, revitalised by his friends' attack, raised his wand and cried "_INFLATIUS!"_ Hermione was not the only one who cried out in horror as Harry's Blasting Hex hit Yaxley hard in the chest and exploded with the force of a small bomb, sending the Death Eater mass, Ron and Hermione flying down the corridor and Harry backwards against the wall.

Disoriented, Hermione scrambled back to her feet and quickly threw up a Shield Charm against Kova's Stunning Spell, before stumbling backwards into the bathroom to escape the attack. Seconds later, however, the door was blown off it's hinges, but Hermione – wild in her terror for both Ron and Harry – thought with all her might, "_Wingardium Leviosa_!" and pointed her wand at the door, holding it in mid-air as the following two hexes blew it to pieces. She quickly retaliated with a cry of "_Immobilus_!" as she froze the young woman Kova in her place, but wasn't quick enough to avoid the revived Rosier's Slashing Hex as it ripped through her jumper and scored a deep gash in her arm. Gasping in pain, Hermione leapt behind the considerably sized bathtub and cast a searing Cauterising Charm on her arm, causing her to flinch horribly and to start sweating. She hated performing medical aid on herself, but she had no choice, Ewan Rosier was now launching curses at her position indiscriminately.

Hermione tried to count the instances between his curses, which he was now casting tauntingly, Ingrid Kova beside him with her wand trained and ready to hit her when she emerged from her position, and when she thought she had the rhythm of his attack, she resigned herself to some scrapes and leapt out from behind the tub, muttering "_Protego!"_ immediately and deflecting the curses aimed at her from both Death Eaters. Hermione knew she had to act fast and so she dodged aside nimbly from the Hurling Hex thrown by Kova and instead pointed her wand at Rosier, forcing all her magical might down into her wand and crying "_IMPEDIMENTA!"_ Rosier was blasted hard off his feet and soared into the tiled wall, cracking it with a burst of dust and slid to the floor, apparently unconscious.

Kova didn't give Hermione a moment, however, as she immediately raised her wand at the young witch and cried "_crucio!_" All of a sudden, it felt like a thousand red-hot knives were being pressed roughly into her body, the agony of which was indescribable. She was barely aware of sinking to her knees, such was the numbing ferocity of her pain, but it was only when she felt the horrifying pain subside, as Kova's wand lifted, she became aware of a horrid scream dying on her lips. Hermione's breath came in short, laboured blasts as she struggled to get her trembling under control.

"You didn't like that, did you, you disgusting Mudblood? You don't like it when Ingrid gives you a dose of pain? Perhaps your filthy Muggle parents can stitch up that nasty cut for-"

"_SILENCIO!_" Hermione screeched above Kova's incessant taunts. The Death Eater looked furious at having been silenced, and raised her wand at the trembling Hermione. But the young witch had already seen her life flash before her eyes, and was beginning to doubt whether she had it in her to take Kova down. She felt weak, abused and not at all up to casting duelling spells. Ron and Harry were elsewhere, fighting for their lives and couldn't hope to help her. She resolved then to take this Death Eater down with her if she could.

The light in Kova's eyes screamed "_Avada Kedavra!_" but Hermione, whose wand was already raised, pointed hers at the ceiling over Kova's head and cried "_Inflatius!_", which brought the entire door-side of the roof down on an astonished Ingrid Kova, crushing her under the mighty pile of rubble. Hermione stared at what she'd done, barely taking in the fact that the Death Eater couldn't possibly be alive under there, when she heard a grunt and then a low moan of anguish emanating from the corner.

Trembling on her knees, she turned to see Ewan Rosier desperately trying to drag his leg free of the massive boulder which had so unceremoniously crushed it, waking him from unconsciousness. She stood shakily on her feet and trained her wand on Rosier, who was watching her with the kind of seething patience of a helpless carnivore at the mercy of its prey. She took pity on the sad Death Eater's apparent pain – despite the fact that he'd tried to kill her – and Stunned him almost immediately. She didn't think about the fact that he was completely defenceless; after all, how humane could she be expected to be?

Wobbling on her feet, Hermione began to feel the effects of the blood she had lost from Rosier's hex, and she leant against the wall, clutching her head to ward off the effects of the dizziness. _Merlin, I hope Harry and Ron are all right…_ she thought desperately, recognising that she was all of a sudden trapped in a bathroom and rapidly losing consciousness. Sliding to the floor, Hermione desperately wished she had her Potions equipment with her, as she could whip up a Blood-Replenishing Draught in seconds. Her last thoughts before slipping away were of Ron, and an ardent need for him to find her so that she could wake up with him nearby.

* * *

Ron had a bit more luck than Hermione, mostly because he had landed against a wall after Harry's insane Blasting Hex, and was therefore able to scramble to his feet quicker. He managed to dissuade Kyrgiakos from going after Harry with a quick Freezing Charm, but it was cancelled almost instantly by Narcissa Malfoy, who quickly fired a Cruciatus Curse back at him. He was forced to duck wildly and leap into Harry's room to avoid three curses sent at him at once, slamming the door behind him as he went with his wand.

The curses, however, quickly smashed the door to pieces, and Ron cursed loudly as a wooden shard slashed him across the cheek, drawing blood. Ignoring the stinging, Ron threw an Impediment Jinx over his shoulder, earning a muffled shout before he leapt behind the cover of Harry's bed. _Shit, shit, shit! _he thought desperately, seeing no way out of his predicament. The three Death Eaters after him had piled into the room and were edging closer to his bed, waiting for him to make a move. Unbeknownst to him, Hermione had been in an unusually similar situation in the bathroom, but Ron's solution was completely different from hers. Seeing the difficulty of his predicament, Ron pointed his wand at his cover and performed a swift Levitation Charm on it, so that the bed leapt into the air and exposed Ron immediately, surprising the three Death Eaters and allowing Ron to point his wand at the nearest one and cry "_Incarcerous!_" The thin, snake-like cords erupted from his wand and wrapped themselves around the arms of the man, knocking his mask from his face and slamming him to the floor, revealing him to be the Death Eater Pernickle, who Ron had seen in an exposé on the Death Eaters who worked as spies in the Ministry that had been uncovered not even a week ago.

His brazenness, however, had left him open to attack at the hands of the other two Death Eaters, which Narcissa Malfoy took easily, throwing Ron across the room with a silent Impediment Jinx. As he hit the wall, Ron's wand fell out of his hands, much to his dismay, but in his attempt to retrieve it, Draco flicked his wand and Ron's soared into his outstretched hand. Unarmed and winded, Ron was forced to watch as Narcissa cut the bonds on Pernickle as Draco stood over him, his own wand trained on his heart.

"Well, well Weasleby, isn't this a delightful situation? Finally, the blood-traitor brat gets what he so sorely deserves!" Draco cackled gleefully, his eyes flashing with a menace and a thirst for revenge that chilled Ron in an ominous manner. He met Draco's delighted sadism with a fiery determination.

"Well, considering you don't have the stones to kill me, I reckon a couple of deadly _furnunculus_ jinxes could teach me a lesson…" Malfoy flinched at Ron's cold tone and choice of words, as his eyes darted warily between each of his eyes.

"What makes you think I won't kill you right here, right now, Weasel King? You're at my mercy…" Draco sneered down at Ron unconvincingly, but even in that typically Malfoy look, Ron could see the drain that his failure to kill Dumbledore had put on him. He had a twitch he hadn't had before, and he had an almost desperate fear in his eyes at the idea of being unable to kill Ron. He decided to use Malfoy's gaunt weariness to his advantage, climbing to his feet at wand-point from Mrs Malfoy and Pernickle, as well as a trembling Malfoy.

"Because, Malfoy, if you didn't have the courage to kill a frail, defenceless old man, you certainly won't have the courage to kill someone perfectly capable of beating you into a bloody pulp, now will you?" Malfoy eyes darkened immediately, and Ron suddenly regretted taunting the desperate young Death Eater. He was beginning to think that Malfoy was more than capable of murder tonight, so desperate was he to prove himself; or rather, escape punishment.

"You can't out-duel me, Weasel…" Malfoy muttered, his tone low and dangerous. Ron gave him a look of utter contempt and spat out his reply.

"No, not without a wand, Ferret. But hand to hand, I'd pummel you worse than your father could ever hope to…"

Malfoy looked horrified at the insinuation, as he immediately raised his wand to curse Ron, but Narcissa beat him too it, slamming Ron with the Cruciatus Curse and causing him to yell out in agony, before he firmly shut his mouth and bore the agony of a thousand lacerations or stabbings or burns without shouting in front of Malfoy. But his horrifying torture didn't last long: Draco lifted his wand to his mother's and knocked it away, releasing Ron from the spell and allowing him to scramble back desperately and haul himself to his feet against the wall.

"How… how dare the blood-traitor brat speak of Lucius in that way! Draco! Kill him, and be done with it!" Narcissa Malfoy looked livid and even Pelitas Pernickle – the Death Eater with the permanent sneer and impeccably fine eyebrows and hairline – looked considerably disturbed by her anger. Draco however, has his eyes on Ron.

"No mother. The Weasley had impugned the honour of our family, and I've decided, following his boast of being a better duellist, to kill him with his wand in his hand." And then to Ron's utter surprise, Draco launched Ron's wand through the air to him, which he deftly caught and instantly cast a Shield Charm to ward off the Stunning Spell Malfoy had followed it up with.

Ron barely heard Pernickle growling, "For Merlin's sake, Narcissa! Stop this madness, kill the boy for him!" because he was too busy trying to get the feel of Malfoy's cursing technique, ducking and deflecting the various hexes being launched at him. Malfoy seemed to be getting frustrated that his curses were not penetrating Ron's defences, because he raised his wand impatiently and cried "_Crucio!_" but Ron was quicker. He ducked under the curse, lifted his wand to Malfoy's body and cried "_Impedimenta!_" Malfoy was blasted off his feet and thrown across the room, colliding with Harry's bed and causing it to collapse.

As expected, Narcissa and Pelitas immediately attacked him, but Ron was ready for this, catching Pernickle with _"Morfodius!_" and leaving him to deal with the effects of the Stinging Hex to the face. Narcissa Malfoy threw a Banishing Charm at him, but he ducked under it and aimed his wand at the desk behind her, crying "_Accio desk!_" and then leaping aside as the desk flew at Narcissa and cannoned into her, pinning her against the far wall. Ron raised his wand to stun her, but Draco suddenly threw himself between them and pointed his wand at Ron, crying "_Incendio Spherus!"_ causing a large fireball to erupt from his wand and launch itself a Ron. He quickly cried "_Aguamenti!"_ and doused the flaming sphere, but the ensuing steam led to him and Malfoy throwing hexes indiscriminately until it cleared. One of Ron's Stunners struck a blinded Pernickle in the chest and knocked him out, leaving Malfoy alone to fight Ron.

Then, just as Ron caught Malfoy in his crosshair and was about to hit him with a Stunner, Hermione's screams of agony rent the air, and Ron froze, petrified at her pain.

"Well, it seems that the Mudblood has either proved to be a worthless dueller or Rosier is giving her a right good rodgering… not that I agree with him, after all, she is a worthless Muggle-born slag and no decent pure-blood should go near her with a barge pole…"

Ron felt so angry that the steam of the room seemed to be a manifestation of his anger, his fury that coursed through every fibre of his being like molten lava. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH, MALFOY! I SWEAR IT, SAY ANOTHER WORD ABOUT HERMIONE AND YOU'LL REGRET IT!"

Malfoy simply sneered at Ron's fury and continued, saying "Of course, she's been due a good fuck for a few years now, since she's so uptight, but she's been waiting on you and it's clear that you play for the other team with Potter. Considering how smart the Mudblood is, you'd think she'd realise your dick is roughly the same size as hers?"

This was too much for Ron, who was already rent with an agony he couldn't describe when he heard Hermione's screams cease, but Malfoy's words left no turning back option. He clutched his wand, pointed it straight at Malfoy's heart and mustered all the hatred for the pale, pointed, drawn and gaunt blonde son of a bitch who stood before him, screaming the words he never thought he'd hear himself use.

"_AVADA KEDAVRA!"_ Malfoy's eyes shot open in horror at the brilliant flash of green light, and he leapt instinctively aside, the curse narrowly missing him. What both he and Ron had failed to notice, though, was Narcissa Malfoy – having freed herself from the desk pinning her to the wall – had been standing behind Malfoy, and was now the unwilling recipient of Ron's curse, straight to her buxom chest. Her expression was one of pained surprise, but as she was thrown against the wall again and slid to the floor, her expression remained utterly slack and devoid of any emotion.

She was dead.

It took a full five seconds for what had happened to register on the two 17-year olds, and it hit them almost at the same time. Ron began to tremble, wavering on his feet, while Malfoy was absolutely hysterical. "MOTHER! MOTHER, NO!" He leapt to her side immediately, disregarding his wand and shaking his dead mother violently, willing her to be awake, tears streaming down his face. "NO MOTHER, NO, YOU CAN'T BE DEAD! YOU CAN'T!" He seemed to have forgotten all about Ron, who was sitting on the bed, staring at Narcissa's corpse in utter disbelief.

In a single second, however, all of Malfoy's impotent fury transferred itself to Ron, as he leapt to his feet with a single heart-stopping roar of "WEASLEY!" and charged Ron, fists flailing. Ron reacted immediately, dodging one of Malfoy's hooks but receiving another to the gut. He ignored the stab of pain and drew his fist back, slamming it as hard as he could into Malfoy's face, unprotected, so intent was he on hurting Ron. The junior Death Eater stumbled back, and Ron raised his wand, wanting nothing more to do with Malfoy. He simply thought the spell, not feeling much up to uttering another curse, and thin, snake-like cords erupted from his wand and bound Malfoy's arms and legs together. He struggled slightly before falling over, rolling around in impotent rage, desperately trying to get at Ron. "WEASLEY! YOU KILLED MY MOTHER, YOU BLOOD-TRAITOR BASTARD! COME BACK HERE! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Shaken, Ron left the room, and was standing in the empty corridor - suitably destroyed - when a thunderous explosion rent the hallway. Ron looked up in astonishment to see the roof over the bathroom entrance collapsing and heard the heavily accented scream of the Russian-descended Death Eater, Ingrid Kova. He blinked in astonishment, before he realised that the last time he had seen Hermione was in the bathroom.

Suppressing the icy chill of fear, and ignoring Malfoy's ranting behind him, Ron started blasting away the rubble – there was a hell of a lot of it – with the Reductor Curse. He hadn't been at it for long, however, when something else happened. He heard Harry in the next room throw a curse, but then his voice suddenly changed, becoming deep and booming and incredibly powerful, reverberating around the house. Ron didn't recognise the incantation, but Harry's cry of "_Gryffindo!"_ certainly sounded impressive. But what astonished him even more was the accompanying burst of phoenix song that filled the house, sad and beautiful and happy and destructive all at once. Ron gaped openly at the doorway to Dudley's room where a massive blue-green phoenix, shimmering in the wake of its own firelight, swept out into the hallway and glided towards him, resting on his shoulder.

It was a few moments before he understood, but the phoenix dripped a tear into his cheek and it healed the deep laceration there. Astonished, Ron watched as the beautiful creature – female, Ron was now certain – sweeping back from the destroyed doorway, turning sharply and emitting a low, harrowing growl. All at once, the rubble turned to fire, erupting around Ron causing him to panic, and then just as suddenly it was gone. The creature swept over Ron's shoulder, leaving him blinking in the sudden darkness of the hallway. He took a few moments to get his bearings, before he ran into the bathroom, astonished by what he saw.

Hermione sat against the wall, blinking against her sudden consciousness thanks to the beautiful specimen on her shoulder, and when Ron took in the two crushed Death Eaters and Hermione's warm brown eyes, filled with relief to see him, his heart suddenly lightened. But it tightened again when it fell upon the huge hole in the wall, leading into Dudley's room, and he saw, to his utter astonishment, Harry Potter caressing the beautiful blue-green phoenix on his shoulder, his green eyes glittering with a confidence Ron had never seen, and the shadow cast by Harry from the light of the phoenix bearing an uncanny and chilling resemblance to that of the mightiest of wizards, Albus Dumbledore.

**Ah, but what does it all mean? I should point out that I've invented a few things here, most notably some Death Eaters – there's a disturbing lack of names if you discount the ones captured at the Department of Mystery, and once I took Bellatrix, Amycus and Greyback out. I've used Goyle, since he wasn't in the DoM battle, as well as Alecto who I've given the surname Carrows, because Snape mentions the Carrows in HBP but we never find out who they are. I therefore assigned this surname to Alecto and Amycus. I also used Yaxley, mentioned by Snape and made her into a woman, and Travers, who is a man.**

**The rest I invented. Pelitas Pernickle (from the general who conspired against Alexander the Great, and therefore means deceitful, and from the word Pernickety which means picky) is one of the richer Death Eaters. Ewan Rosier is the son of Evan Rosier, killed by Moody. Ingrid Kova is of Russian descent, since I figured Riddle would have international support. Zacharias Kyrgiakos and Chandler Ferguson have two forenames I like and the surnames of two players from my least favourite football team. Terrence Raves is a generic Death Eater – doesn't need a back-story – and Podrice Gnarle is a much older Death Eater, skilled in Dark Magic but with slow reflexes. The name is just a name I like. They'll all appear more in the next chapter.**

**FINALLY, the spells. I've created modifications for the Incendiary Charm, namely _Incendio Arcus_ – creates an arc of flames ala Dumbledore in HBP against the Inferi – and _Incendio Spherus_ which creates a fireball. I always imagined plain _Incendio_ as creating a jet of fire, which is why I wanted modifications. _Morfodius_ is a fusion of two Latin words for sting, which is my incantation for the Stinging Hex. _Pellio_ is Latin for Banish, which made sense as _Accio_ is drawn from the Latin for Summon. _Inflatius_ is a manipulation of the latin _inflatus_ which means blast, to make it sound more incantation-like. _Immobilus_ is the film term for Hermione's Freezing Charm, and I reckon it has a different effect to the Full Body-Bind. I liked the term so much, I decided to use it.  
**

**All reviews welcome, and sorry for waffling. All this information is relevant in later chapters. Thanks again for reading!**


	5. The Endowment Charm

**To those who review: You make it all worth it. Especially seeing as I seemed to have a lot more time to write this when I started it; now I'm only adding bits of it here and there when I find the time…**

_Disclaimer: I do not nor ever plan to own Harry Potter; only some minor characters (Death Eaters and OOTP members that are not canon) and the plot is mine…_

**Chapter 5 – The Endowment Charm**

Harry didn't need to be a genius to realise that three-against-one odds were not at all surmountable, without a considerable bit of luck, so – counting on his apparently inexhaustible fortune in these situations – he cast a lingering Shield Charm on himself and leapt sideway to avoid a Kyrgiakos curse that never came, as he was taken out by Ron. Silently thanking Ron, Harry scrambled into Dudley's room as the Death Eaters struggled to come to terms with Harry's completely impetuous Blasting Hex. He wasn't sure why he chose that hex; only that he was sure – without knowing why – that it was the best possible way of ensuring his friend's survival. At the same time, he knew – again, with a kind of steely confidence in his own judgement – that splitting up with Ron and Hermione was the best way to ensure their own survival. Harry wasn't sure why he knew this, nor why he felt so confident in his own and his friend's abilities, but he didn't think it had anything to do with an illicit dose of Felix Felicis. No, this confidence came from inside him, as though he hadn't known it was there before and it was suddenly bubbling over.

As he tried to process the remarkable change in his manner, the door was Vanished by the very capable Snape and he and two other Death Eaters – Kyrgiakos and Yaxley from the looks of it – fanned out in the doorway, scanning the dark room with their wandlight. Harry – hidden behind Dudley's wardrobe – watched them carefully, noting the way they seemed wary of him yet arrogantly confident. He noted, however, that none of them seemed to be taunting him, as he had grown accustomed to Death Eaters doing. In this kind of situation, Snape would revel in throwing taunts out at Harry in an attempt to have him erupt from his hiding place and attack brashly, but instead, Snape looked almost apprehensive about finding Harry, as though he'd rather be anywhere else but here. Intrigued by this, Harry was struck by an overwhelming urge to confront Snape, and he leapt out from behind the wardrobe directly into Snape's wandlight, his wand raised at his face.

Snape looked startled, and for a split second, Harry saw indecision in Snape's eyes – Snape, who was always so absurdly convinced that he was right, Snape, whose neither concentration nor contempt for Harry ever wavered – as though he was suddenly unsure of he wanted to attack Harry. Harry, however, recognised the face of the man who had killed Albus Dumbledore. He stared through the slits in the Death Eater mask at Snape's cold eyes, and felt a surge of hatred so strong that it overcame even his unexplainable assuredness, and he cried out with all his rage, anger and impotence that he had felt at Dumbledore's death, "_STUPEFY!_"

Snape's eyes hardened immediately as Harry began to think the curse, and because of their eye contact, he knew what Harry was doing before Harry knew. Snape deflected the Stunner easily but his return curse appeared to be almost half-hearted, and Harry deflected it just as easily.

"Yaxley! Krygiakos!" Snape roared, as the two wand-light beams shone on Snape and Harry, and they both ran over immediately. Harry, slightly unprepared for a three-on-one assault, jumped back behind the wardrobe just as two curses slammed against it, splintering the wood. The rattling jolted Harry's glasses from his nose, and just as he was fixing them his cover exploded in a roar of Reductor Curses and splintering wood. Harry cried out in pain as large splinters embedded themselves in his back, but he quickly waved his wand and cauterised all the small wounds, hissing in pain as he did so. The dust from the blast gave him an unexpectedly good cover position, as he whipped around and cried "_IMPEDIMENTA!_" at the nearest moving shadow. Whoever it was was blasted out of the cloud of dust and frozen as Harry erupted from the shadows and launched curses at the other two Death Eaters.

He soon found himself to be in dire straits, however, as once the charm on Yaxley had lifted, he was duelling with three Death Eaters, with every item that might have provided cover being blasted to pieces, and then to compound things, there was a loud smashing noise and the rear guard – that is to say, the Death Eaters that were chosen to enter the house through the back windows – arrived, with Gordon Goyle and a Death Eater Harry didn't recognise piling in. Harry managed to hit various curses – he locked the legs of Yaxley together and he hit the unknown Death Eater with a nasty Stinging Hex – but he suffered far worse, having the fingers on his wand hand jammed together and forcing him to duel with his left, as well as various cuts, bruises and a temporary blindness that had – for some reason that he wagered had to do with his apparently spontaneous increase in duelling skills – hadn't impaired his fighting at all.

It was when Harry heard Hermione's screams of agony in the next room, however, that whatever it was that had been building in him suddenly erupted. He thought of Hermione, being tortured, and of Ron, alone against three Death Eaters, and of Ginny, without him to protect her if he went down on this occasion, and he felt the force of the assuredness, the confidence, the – Harry now had a word for it – _Dumbledore_-ness in him rising to the top, until it suddenly overtook all his thoughts, all of his feelings, so that where he had been about to Stun Snape, he suddenly cried an incantation that seemed to come from the very recesses of his memories, one of the oldest things he'd learned in the days of his parents, his orphaning and his first meeting with Dumbledore at one-year old. Images of his dream flashed through his head, of Dumbledore enchanting that white mist to bind them at the heart, and of Godric Gryffindor, and he suddenly cried – in a completely different voice – "_Gryffindo!_" and his wand erupted in light.

Unsure of exactly why he'd cast the spell but at the same time assured that it was exactly the right thing to do by an immense wave of relief that crashed over him, Harry was nonetheless dumbfounded to witness the huge, shimmering phoenix that slid as gracefully from his wand as a wisp of smoke, beating it's molten wings effortlessly and soaring around the room, it's beautiful crest of feathers shining with a piercing blue Harry had only ever seen in Dumbledore's – and Ron's, when he thought about it – eyes, and a crystal, bottle-glass green he recognised as his own eye colour. Staring open-mouthed at the mighty creature, Harry momentarily forgot the presence of the Death Eaters, but he was suddenly alighted to their presence by a sudden barrage of curses aiming for the mighty specimen.

Outraged, Harry pointed his wand at the phoenix and cried "_Protego!_" while completely unfazed by the fact that he'd never _projected_ a Shield Charm before. The Charm proved unnecessary, however, as the great bird swooped away from the attacks and suddenly let out a haunting tune, sweeping out of the room and leaving a trail of golden, molten flecks behind it. Everyone stared at it in astonishment, and suddenly all the wands were on Harry again. He, however, didn't hesitate, rattling off a Stunning Spell – which slammed into Krygiakos with such force he was thrown against the wall, where he slumped unconsciously – and a curse he'd only ever used once before - one that he'd learned for one of Mad-Eye Moody's classes on unexpected hexes, and with which he had debilitated Seamus, his sparring partner – a time-release Invalidity Curse, which caused all the feeling to go out of Goyle's limbs, leaving him in a paralysed heap. Snape, Yaxley and the other Death Eater all managed to block whatever Harry threw their way, but Yaxley reacted very quickly to her defence and threw a hard Reductor Curse at Harry, who – almost nonchalantly – deflected it against the wall, blowing a huge hole in it and bringing it down at almost the same time as Hermione brought down the roof on Ingrid Kova.

With a flick of his wand, he disarmed Yaxley and threw her wand against a wall, leaving her speechless. The third Death Eater almost dared to curse Harry, but his piercing green eyes froze him in his place, unsure of whether to attack. Harry made his choice for him, flicking his wand and thinking "_Levicorpus!_" so that he was suddenly dangling in mid-air. Now faced with only Snape armed, Harry narrowed his eyes and raised his wand, but suddenly the mighty phoenix – the one who had armoured him with such a huge level of magical strength, or rather, seemed to draw said strength right out of him – floated in through the huge hole in the wall and landed on his shoulder, folding in it's great wings and staring straight at him with eyes that at the same time were the warm chocolate-brown of Ginny's and the dark hazel-brown of Hermione's – and, Harry noticed with astonishment, his father's eyes. Harry realised that this phoenix was the embodiment of everyone that was important to him, everyone who had given their all for him; it was an embodiment of his will to fight, to win, to defeat and annihilate Voldemort completely.

But at the same time – perhaps because this phoenix was undoubtedly female, from the look it was giving him, and because that reminded him of his unwavering sense of equality – the phoenix seemed to be the embodiment of everything Dumbledore had given him to fight. Harry felt mesmerised by the creature's gaze, and was suddenly overwhelmed by an urge to name his graceful companion. He thought back to Fawkes – Dumbledore's elegant, male phoenix – and the historical significance of his name, and he was suddenly decisive. This phoenix would be named for the most powerful witch Harry knew from history.

_Hera_. Queen of the Olympian witches, the 12 who ruled over the Muggles of Ancient Greece. That was fitting, and as he whispered it to her, the phoenix seemed to accept it with a slight twinkle in her eyes.

But Harry's tranquil exchange with the phoenix was suddenly interrupted by the posse of Death Eaters convulsively grabbing their left forearm, each emitting a low hiss. Harry's heart felt an icy stab of fear, which was quickly quelled by the phoenix's soothing gaze, but he knew what was coming now. He knew the danger he was in, and as he cast his eyes over Ron and Hermione – standing together, closer than he'd ever seen them, wands raised defiantly – he felt an overwhelming urge to protect them.

But something inside him told him that was the wrong thing to do. Dumbledore had tried to protect him, protect him from whatever his destiny was. And it had led to the death of Sirius. Harry couldn't risk a loss like that again. Risking Ron and Hermione meant facing the possibility of losing one of them; but at the same time, they'd been in the DA. Only Neville and Ginny could ever hope to best either of them in a duel. Ron was one of the most magically powerful wizards Harry knew, but his confidence – or lack thereof – held him back. Hermione, meanwhile, could rattle off any curse to turn a situation to her advantage. Her only weakness was a fragile nerve. She tended to give a little easier than Ron or Harry.

But fighting together? Ron would be desperate to prove himself in Hermione's eyes – however unnecessary that was – and would give every ounce of magic in his blood to protect her. And Hermione would be determined to vindicate her stance of self-protection, doing everything she could to protect Ron while he boldly protected her. Harry had to admit, aside from possibly him and Ginny, he couldn't think of a tandem that could out-duel Ron and Hermione together.

"Snape! What the hell is going on?" the dangling Death Eater was whispering to his leader, who was staring wide-eyed at the bird on Harry's shoulder. He didn't seem to hear his companion however, until he tugged harshly on Snape's sleeve. "Severus! What do we do?"

Snape turned to look at him, instantly cancelling the Levicorpus Charm, and then looking into his eyes, gauging the feeling there, before he turned his spiteful gaze back to Harry. "It would seem that Dumbledore has armed Potter with more than I think even he realises, Ferguson… I wondered earlier, with Potter's uncommonly good duelling skills, if Dumbledore hadn't in fact invoked an Endowment Charm…" Hermione let out a short gasp of surprise, as she always did when a piece of a puzzle fit – "but it would seem the old fool has gone one step further. Potter is an unworthy choice… but nonetheless, the Dark Lord must be informed…"

"He is on his way, Snape! We must go quickly!"

"Thank you Ferguson, but I am in control here… Potter! I wouldn't advise any rash moves on your part, you'll only prolong an encounter with the Dark Lord you can't afford…" Snape muttered oily to Harry, who was filled with a contemptuous anger at Snape's words.

"Can't afford? Snape, you go down and tell the other half-blood hypocrite, that Harry Potter is ready and waiting to face him…" Harry considered Snape for a moment – "although I'm afraid you're going alone…" after which he nodded to Ron and Hermione, who roared a curse – Ron's was _"Incarcerous!"_ while Hermione rattled off "_Stupefy!"_ – and struck Yaxley and Ferguson respectively. Yaxley was bound in thin cords, while Ferguson simply slumped to the floor, unconscious. Harry laughed harshly, all of a sudden, enjoying the look of mortified embarrassment on Snape's face. "For Death Eaters, they weren't up to much, were they _Snivellus?_" Harry taunted cruelly.

Snape's face twisted alarmingly at the use of the nickname, and he raised his wand immediately. Harry had thrown up a Shield Charm almost instantly, but it proved unnecessary, as Hera swept from Harry's shoulder and snatched Snape's wand out of his hand, sweeping carefully into the air before snapping it in half with her mighty, taloned feet. Snape looked immediately horrified at being disarmed and was forced to duck wildly and flee the room at the curses launched at him from Ron and Hermione. When Snape had left, they stood, wands out, facing the door; but each looked over their shoulder at him, searching his face for an answer.

"Harry…" Hermione began tentatively; her face alive with a glow only Ron or a solution to a difficult problem could give her, but Ron quickly cut her off.

"Where in the _bloody hell_ did you get the bird?" he asked, his eyes following the beautiful creature around the room with unmistakeable astonishment. His eyes quickly snapped to Harry when it took him a while to answer, however.

"I'm not sure… I think… I think Dumbledore gave her to me…" Harry said softly, completely sure of the fact but unsure of how Ron and Hermione would react. Hermione frowned at this, as though something had thrown a spanner into her theory, but Ron seemed astonished again.

"Dumbledore? But… Harry, mate… Dumbledore's…"

"I know he's dead, Ron!" Harry said harshly, and – when Ron looked mildly affronted – he continued in a more level tone, "but I think this is some kind of spell he put on me a long time ago… to protect me…" At this point, Hermione met his eyes and Harry trailed off, waiting for her to speak.

She waited for a few moments, biting her upper lip nervously, before speaking. "I think it's what Snape said it is, Harry. An Endowment Charm; I think that explains why you seemed so much stronger… before… when you were duelling in the corridor…"

"Hermione, what the heck _is_ an Endowment Charm?" Ron asked sceptically, as though anything Snape thought was right was wrong.

"Well, _Ronald_, it's a Charm that a person can place upon another person to… well, to endow them with a greater level of magical strength if said person is incapable of protecting them. It's a very difficult charm and requires a very powerful wizard to cast it, so Dumbledore would be able to… but it only comes into action when the person has died… and it only really works in one place. It was invented during the war against Grindelwald as a means for parents to protect their kids… if a parent performed the charm on their kid, it would mean they'd be much stronger and capable of defending their house in the absence of a parent. But sadly, only in the house…"

"So… I only have _this_ kind of strength while I fight here?" Harry asked, disappointed. He had hoped his newfound strength would remain with him; it would help massively in the fight against Voldemort.

"I'm afraid so Harry. It only works where the spell was cast… but… Harry, I have to admit, even with Dumbledore's prodigious magical strength, and your own, I really can't believe how strong you've become. How… well, honestly, how _assured_ you are!"

Harry smiled uncomfortably at Hermione's astonishment, as Ron eyed him suspiciously. He turned away from them to watch the – no, _his_ – beautiful phoenix soar around the room, and answered them as best he could.

"I'm surprised too Hermione. But I know what's causing it. It's definitely Dumbledore, I'm sure of it. And… well, I never told you two, because it never seemed important and it almost certainly wasn't Voldemort-related… but…" He looked uneasily at his friends, but they seemed unconcerned that Harry had kept something to himself; he suddenly realised that they both had secrets they didn't want out in the open – at least, not yet anyway – and this caused him to smile slightly. "I've been having dreams since Dumbledore died… of him, on the Dursley's doorstep, performing some kind of complicated incantation that involved giving a part of himself to me. And… also of Godric Gryffindor, although I don't understand that particular part of it…"

Hermione was biting her lip again, and Ron's forehead was furrowed in thought. Harry waited anxiously, eager to hear their opinion on what was happening to him. Ron met his eyes with an unusually sombre look, and said something Harry hadn't even considered. "Harry… Dumbledore cast a spell that would only come into action if he died… but… Dumbledore couldn't have expected you to need this kind of strength _right now_. Don't you think it's… well, bloody coincidental that he died right before you needed the strength? At almost exactly the right time?"

Harry looked at Ron grimly, but his best friend didn't flinch from it. "So you're saying Dumbledore expected to die?"

"Harry, you said it yourself…" Hermione whispered, her face drawn and unhappy. "The first Horcrux nearly killed him… the second one… well…"

Harry stared at her now, wave after wave of horrifying doubt slamming into him. Hermione seemed to read this in his eyes, or at least in his dramatic change of expression, and even Ron looked perturbed.

"Hermione… Ron… if that's what _two_ Horcruxes did to _Dumbledore_, how the hell are we going to find and destroy _four?_"

At this, Hermione's eyes lit up – to Harry's immense surprise – and she seemed on the verge of divulging something important, when there was a loud crack downstairs, and a high, piercingly cold voice carried up the stairs, sending shivers down Harry's back.

"Where is Potter?" Harry then heard mumbling from someone – surely Snape – and he suddenly felt a stab of pain and anger through the scar in his head, something that astonished him given that he hadn't felt pain in his scar for almost a year.

"Bring him to me, you idiots! Bella, Amycus, Wormtail, do what Severus so blandly failed to do and bring me Potter…"

"My Lord, there is something else you must know…" Snape interjected sullenly, as though he had no patience for even Voldemort's wrath.

"Severus, where are the others?" Voldemort cut across him harshly.

"They… my Lord… Rosier, Kova, Ferguson, Yaxley… Goyle… Kyrgiakos… Pernickle… Malfoy and Malfoy… I don't know what happened to Gnarle and Travers… Carrows and Ravens are here, of course…"

Voldemort let out a cry of rage and apparently blew something up, because Ron, Hermione and Harry – all upstairs and in the furthest possible room from the front door – suddenly wavered as the whole house shook. Ron and Hermione shot each other looks of terror and reassurance, and then turned determinedly to Harry who nodded. The three of them walked towards the door and Harry called Hera to his shoulder.

Harry waited until he could hear footsteps, and he was just about to give the signal to unleash Ron, Hermione and Hera into the corridor when he heard a voice he hadn't expected.

"Aunt Bella!" cried Draco Malfoy, anguished. Harry heard the footsteps stop and Malfoy's aunt speak back to him.

"Draco? You're all right then… and Podrice, Brad, Pelitas… why were you lot in there?"

Harry next heard a gruff voice he didn't recognise, and a quick exchanged glance with Ron and Hermione showed they didn't recognise the wheezy voice either. "Travers and I came in through the window, like Snape said, Bella. We found Pernickle out for the count and Malfoy tied up and sobbing next to…" but the voice suddenly stopped, as though he didn't want to say what he was about to say.

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, and was startled to see how pale Ron had gone. Harry met his eyes, and saw a kind of glazed determination in there, before Ron tip-toed out into the shadow of the corridor. Harry, alarmed, sent Hermione after him but held Hera back, as the light of her wings would be a dead giveaway. He poked his head around the corner and looked at the concernedly wrinkled face of Podrice Gnarle and the desolate look on Draco's face.

"You were _sobbing_, Draco? What is the meaning of it?"

"Aunt… Bellatrix… it's… its mother…"

Bella seemed to blanch at this. "Narcissa? What about her?"

Gnarle exchanged glances with Pernickle, who looked equally as grave. Hanging back along the corridor were two forms that suddenly filled Harry with a cold rage: Amycus Carrows, one of the invaders of Hogwarts; and Peter Pettigrew, AKA Wormtail, the man who had sold out Harry's parents to their deaths. Neither seemed interested in the proceedings, and indeed, Amycus was bent over the semi-conscious Ewan Rosier.

"Bellatrix… your sister Narcissa is dead…" Harry and Hermione both flinched, astonished by this piece of news. Ron, however, remained completely stationary, staring down the corridor at the Death Eaters. Bella, however, had drawn herself up to her full height, stiff as a board and fury in every line of her face.

"Who?" she managed to utter through inhumanly thin lips. And Harry started in alarm as Ron stood up and walked out of the shadows, despite Hermione's squeak of protest, and declared the group before him: "Me."

Harry just gaped at him, as did Hermione and the Death Eater contingent. Nobody seemed to know what to think, and Bellatrix looked to Draco for confirmation. He just stared maliciously at Ron and raised his wand in a defiant screech of "_Avada Kedavra!_" which Harry immediately blasted Ron out of the way of. Instantly, Ron rolled over and threw an Impediment Jinx at Malfoy, which hit him hard in the chest and froze him, allowing Harry to slam him with a Stunner and send him flying over the heads of the Death Eaters. Malfoy's allies seemed stunned momentarily, and then all hell broke loose when Bellatrix screeched and immediately started pummelling Ron with curses.

Instinctively, Harry moved to defend his friend, projecting a Shield Charm in front of Ron to deflect the worst of Bellatrix's curses, but Ron was holding his own already, such was his anger. Hermione also leapt into action, catching Pelitas Pernickle with a Leg-Locker curse and bringing him crashing to the floor, dragging a flailing Wormtail with him as he grabbed his robes for support. Harry managed to block a few curses from Podrice Gnarle and Amycus Carrows, but he was forced to leap aside and deflect a curse thrown at Hermione that she didn't see coming when Bellatrix managed to put Ron on the back-foot for a second.

The fight seemed to roar above Harry's level of perception; such was his intense reliance on his instinctive duelling. He found himself projecting Shield Charms to ward off stray curses aiming for Ron and Hermione every second curse, the first usually defending himself. His concern for his friends was damaging his own offensiveness, and Ron and Hermione were finding it hard to combat six Death Eaters successfully. Harry finally snapped, leaping to land beside Hermione and deflecting two Stunning Spells at once to give him a moment to speak with her.

"Hermione, I'm going to leave you unprotected for a minute!" he hissed, hoping she'd understand.

"Go for Gnarle, he's the slowest target and the easiest to take down; and if you get a chance, Wormtail's just as susceptible!" she muttered back quickly, causing Harry to gape at her in surprise. She quickly deflected a hex he'd taken his eyes off of and roared at him, "HARRY! GO!"

Snapping back into action, Harry deflected two simultaneous curses and raised his wand at Podrice Gnarle as he crossed the field of battle, crying "_ELEKTRIUM!_" and watching as a bolt of blue-white electricity shot from his wand and hit the Death Eater in the chest, erupting in a flash of white light and causing him to emit a screech of agony before his singed body was thrown backwards down the hallway. Harry knew that the Thunderbolt Curse was bordering on Dark Magic, but Mad-Eye had always advocated it as perfectly legal and non-fatal and very, very useful. Quickly, Harry was forced to duck and dodge the wrath of Amycus and Wormtail, before he rolled hard along the floor, leapt to his feet and hammered his fist against Amycus' head, catching the huge man completely unawares. Harry then whipped around, aimed his wand at Wormtail and cried "_Expelliarmus!_"

Pettigrew's wand soared through the air and he gave a loud whimper, before backing away hurriedly from Harry's raised wand, from which he threw a Stunning Spell that was surprisingly well-deflected by Wormtail's silver hand, crashing into the ground. Cursing himself, Harry watched as Wormtail fled, wand-less but not defenceless, down the stairs, and he turned back to help his friends.

He was stopped in his tracks, however, by the covert movements of Bellatrix Lestrange, who managed to deflect Ron's Body-Bind Curse, duck and roll out of the range of his wand. Harry watched in horror as she raised her wand at Hermione's back – Hermione, who had just succeeded in stunning Bradley Travers and was now going for his wand; Hermione, who he had left unallied to take down an old Death Eater and one who had worse duelling skills than a giant – and give a loud, triumphant "HA!" before a dark bolt of light erupted from her wand and slammed into Hermione's back, causing her to scream in agony and be thrown up the hallway, before she slammed against the far wall, sliding the floor with a trickle of blood running from her mouth.

There was a moment in which Ron stared open-mouthed at Hermione, all the colour gone from his face and a sudden, glazed horror in his eyes before he truly erupted. "HERMIONE! NO!" he screamed agonisingly, before he whipped his wand around and screeched "_CRUCIO!"_ at Lestrange, who deflected the curse but was forced to retreat as Ron hit her with an unrelenting barrage of curses, many of which penetrated her defences and left her with several small wounds and a broken arm. Pernickle roared to her defence but Harry took him out of it immediately, launching him down the stairs with nothing more than a flick of his wand, while Amycus dragged a floating Rosier and Travers down the stairs behind him, leaving Gnarle but fleeing Harry and Ron's wrath.

Finally, Ron pressed Bellatrix against the stairs, where she stood shakily to cover Amycus' retreat, and looked as though he was about to enact his revenge, when she finally played her ace. Bella wasn't Voldemort's best duellist for nothing, as she feinted that Ron's _"Stupefy!"_ was going to hit her, before ducking immediately, pointing her wand at him and screeching "_SECTUMSEMPRA!"_ Neither Ron nor Harry's Shield Charm was quick enough, and while Harry managed to cover Ron's head, torso and legs, it was Ron's raised arms that remained unshielded. The curse missed Ron's wand hand – his right – but bit viciously into the wrist of his right, and – to Harry's unending horror – severed Ron's left hand right off.

It appeared to Harry that his best friend didn't even register the attack, because he immediately launched another curse at the fleeing Bellatrix, the blood flowing copiously from his stump at the end of his arm. Harry couldn't remember seeing a moment of pain until Hera's soothing tears began to drip into the wound, healing the skin and arteries and everything else severed, but completely unable to grow a hand back. Finally, when his phoenix was finished, Ron was left with a completely unmarked left arm; the only thing missing was his left hand.

He stared at it numbly, shock beginning to set in, but Harry couldn't allow Ron this moment of thought. His thoughts turned immediately to those still lying in the corridor, and he roared "Hermione!" As expected, this snapped Ron back to reality and within seconds, the two boys were leaning over their crumpled best friend, who was pale as a sheet and shuddering slightly.

"Oh no… oh Merlin… Hermione… Hermione, love… please… no…" Ron choked out, his eyes never leaving her soft features as his hand stroked her hair delicately, his expression desolate. Harry, just as heartbroken, was a bit more practical about things: he immediately grabbed Hermione's wrist and felt for a pulse. He didn't dare to hope on the first soft beat; he began to silence his imagination on the second; his head began to throb with adrenaline on the third.

On the fourth soft beat of Hermione's pulse, he announced to Ron through a half-sob, his head virtually drowning in relief, "R-ron… she's still alive!" Ron's swimming blue spheres snapped to Harry's piercing green, hope flaring desperately in his eyes, and Harry couldn't help but be strengthened by this. He stared at Ron, measuring the man in front of him; his best friend, loyal to both he and Hermione to the end, and decided without any formalities that Hermione definitely needed him more right now.

"Ron…" he began quietly. "Ron, you need to get Hermione to St Mungo's. I'll cover your retreat." Ron's eyes widened immediately, his automatic protest never reaching fruition. "Ron! Damn it, this isn't about us! It's about Hermione! I don't give a crap about what happens to me! If the choice is me facing Voldemort alone or Hermione dead, I'd take Voldemort any day!" Ron stared at Harry quietly, horror emanating from his eyes as he began to tremble.

"Harry… Harry, mate… I can't choose between you…" he said weakly, the entire situation crumbling around him as he spoke.

"You're not. You're choosing which of us needs you more. I'm on my feet, stronger than I've ever been, uninjured and I have Hera with me. Hermione is none of those things. She _needs_ you, Ron!" Harry tried to ignore the burning feeling of horror at the fact he might never see Ron again after this.

"Harry… you can't kill him… the Horcruxes…"

"I won't. I'll just scare him, that's all. Snape, I can kill" he finished darkly.

Ron didn't even seem shocked at this. He just looked incredibly pained all of a sudden. "Harry… Mrs Malfoy… I was aiming for Draco…"

"Ron!" Harry said warningly, seeing where this was leading. "Hermione needs you right now! As quickly as you can, get her out of here and to help! Understand?"

Ron's blue eyes stared back at Harry in agony, before he turned them again to Hermione, her usual flush at such a gaze from Ron absent. That wrung Harry's heart in a way he hadn't expected, but he was glad when Ron nodded determinately. Harry felt no more words were needed, as he clapped Ron on the shoulder, trying to remain brotherly. It didn't last, however, as Ron pulled him into a crushing hug, which he returned fervently.

"Harry… Hermione would want you to know that she loves you. And… and so do I… you're my brother, mate… in a way my brothers aren't…" Ron said deliberately, his eyes never leaving Harry's. Deeply touched, he climbed to his feet, having nothing else to say, knowing that Ron knew that he above all else loved Ron and Hermione more than anyone he knew. Harry walked down the corridor, preparing himself for what he was going to encounter downstairs, when he heard Ron's voice calling from down the corridor.

"Good luck mate." Harry Potter turned to look at Ronald Weasley, and they shared a look that they'd never shared before, each burning the look into their minds in case they never got to see the other again. Harry nodded silently, which Ron returned, and then set off down the stairs, whispering quietly to himself the mantra he'd been preaching all night.

"I don't need luck, Ron. I don't need it."

**Ah, finally. Like I said, sorry it took so long, but it was hard to find a time when I could just sit down and write for an extended period. This was mostly constructed over 20 minute bursts when I suddenly had free time. It's a bit longer than I meant it to be, but I quite like the battle scenes. I promise the rest won't be such a slog!**

**R.A.C.**


	6. The Battle of Little Whinging

_Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter is J.K. Rowling's, as is any character you recognise. The ones you don't are mine._

**Chapter Six: The Battle of Little Whinging**

Terrence Ravens wasn't sure what he expected. He knew that sitting at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for the inevitable arrival of three teenage wizards didn't sound too daunting; add in that they were three teenage wizards who had managed to repel a horde of vicious Death Eaters without a single death was quite another level of difficulty altogether. He expected them to act brashly, assured of their victory, perhaps attacking with a great deal of bravado due to their swollen confidence in their own ability. What Raves hadn't counted on, though, was Harry Potter striding quietly around the corner and seeming almost surprised to see him standing there, next to his partner, Alecto Carrows.

It was she who spoke to him first, narrowing her eyes at Harry with obvious contempt. "Well, well, Potter… isn't this one stupid move? You walked right into us, and now you're the proverbial rabbit in the headlights… or the half-blood scum in the crossfire…" she said with a twisting sneer on her face. Harry looked at her mildly, as though she had just said something about the weather that he faintly disagreed with, but didn't fancy pressing the point. Unnerved, Ravens looked to his partner for some advice.

"Not speaking Potty? Well, that's all right, you don't have to speak. I'm sure we can coax some noise out of you…" Alecto twirled her wand lazily in her hands, her eyes dancing over Harry mercilessly before she snapped it towards him and cried "_Crucio!_"

"_Protego!_" Harry deflected the curse before it even got near him, deflecting it against the wall from his perfectly performed shield charm as he levelled his wand at her, a smile tugging at his lips. Alecto narrowed her eyes, feeling slightly humiliated as Ravens noted the suddenly angry twitch to her muscles.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" she cried, well before Ravens managed to scream out his disapproval, but Harry was much too quick, leaping aside and raising his wand at Carrows before she could even turn to face him.

Harry hit her with a combination-jinx, the type he'd so wanted to progress to teaching his DA students but had never got as far as. The Leg-Locker Curse hit her first, tying her legs together tightly, followed by the Levicorpus Charm, leaving her hanging upside down, disarmed and unable to react. He noted with a smile the look of incredulous shame on Alecto's features, before he turned his wand on Ravens and Stunned him before he could fully assimilate what had happened.

His smile disappeared as he took in Alecto's rage, not at all phased by her anger and in fact, rather strongly responding to it. How dare she be angry with him? She, who had invaded his house and attacked him first; He felt icy rage rising in him, as he strode towards Carrows with fury etched in his face. She seemed to quail under his rage, but Harry didn't stop. He walked right by her, allowing her to believe he'd given her a respite, before he threw a Stunning Spell over his shoulder and left her hanging unconscious in mid-air.

Harry's stomach had now lodged itself unpleasantly in his throat as he strode down the corridor, measuring his steps slowly so as to delay the inevitable encounter. He knew what to expect – had known it from the moment he parted from Ron – but in truth he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Hera swept lazily after him, filling him with a thrill of confidence every time his senses perceived her, but all the same, the rational, unaffected part of Harry's brain recognised the perilous situation he was walking in to. There was even a niggling sense of doubt that the Endowment Charm wouldn't apply in the garden, but the charm itself worked hard to dispel this doubt.

Harry approached the back door, his wand raised and ready, his mind already playing out the scenario when he would burst through the door; but he suddenly found himself no longer moving, frozen in front of the doorway. Several dark thoughts raced through his head, before he concentrated on something that would give him the strength to continue. What had Dumbledore trumpeted as Harry's greatest strength? His ability to love… and he'd need that to walk away alive tonight…

Harry's mind cast over Hermione, the sister he never had. He thought about all the good times they'd had together, the fact that they'd never gone a lengthy period without being friends and that she was unflinchingly loyal even in the face of a slander campaign launched by the _Daily Prophet_. This, inevitably, drew his mind to Ron: his best mate and most loyal companion; the guy he'd trust with his life and Hermione's more than anyone. If Hermione was his sister, Ron was indisputably his brother. Harry couldn't imagine a life without them, but equally, he felt his heart fill with an icy numbness at what might become of their lives without him. _No,_ he admonished himself; _Ron and Hermione have each other. They'll make do. They'll be together, the way Ginny and I…_

But that dragged his thoughts to Ginny, and Harry stiffened involuntarily. He searched his mind, thinking about everything Ginny and he had shared; that kiss in the common room, that first, not-at-all awkward walk around the grounds; more importantly, their first real date, when Harry had treated her to a midnight dinner in the kitchens, courtesy of Dobby's ability to repel the House-Elves from any particular place should be become sufficiently annoying. He felt his entire body shake with sadness at the thought of what could be his death; how could he stomach never seeing Ginny again? After everything he had been forced to do to her – break up with her, exclude her – how could he consciously take the decision to deprive her of any chance of them ever being together again?

_Because our relationship isn't worth the lives of Ron, Hermione or anyone. If it's a choice between a person and us being together, the person wins every time_, Harry thought dispassionately. With a quiet nod to himself, he drew himself up to his full height and resigned himself to his attack.

Before he could realistically consider not plunging himself straight into the action, he raised his wand at the door and thought "_Reducto_!" and watched as the wood splintered violently as the door was wrenched from its hinges. Harry was out through it in a second, in a flurry of black shapes, two of which he stunned instantly, firing off the curses without any kind of thought about it, relying on instinct to guide his composed duelling. He threw up a Shield Charm immediately, deflecting a few curses before he slammed another Death Eater with the Impediment Jinx.

He heard a shout though, as though someone had been caught off-guard, and he swivelled around, wondering if help had arrived. To his horror, however, the dark swish of cloak swept aside to reveal blood-red eyes, snake-like nostrils, a thin-lipped mouth and a raised wand, which cried "_Expelliarmus!_" in a high, icy pitch; followed by a shout of "_Petrificus Totalus!"_ from the Death Eater next to him. Harry wavered, frozen immediately and disarmed as he stared into the cold eyes which bore through him with a kind of sickening malice.

Lord Voldemort had won Round One, at least.

* * *

Ron smoothed Hermione's tousled hair away from her pale cheeks and flickering eyes, and tried desperately to ignore the soft mumbles and moans he heard coming from her blood-encrusted lips. He wiped the trail of blood from the side of her mouth delicately away, using the hem of his pyjama top, and he tested her ribs gingerly – from the back, flushing with shame at the thought of trying the front ones – to make sure nothing was broken. Satisfied, but still trembling at the horror of it all, he hefted Hermione up to her feet, her completely limp form leaning on the one good arm he had draped around her waist. His useless stump of a left hand was bluntly holding her own left arm over his head, as he dragged her unceremoniously down the corridor.

Desperation began to take over as Ron struggled towards the end of the corridor, fearing what he might find every step of the way. He could hear the roar of battle outside, something that both surprised and terrified him. There were muffled shouts of Dark curses and other, less harsh curses from the force opposing the Death Eaters; Ron assumed that the Order had to get here sometimes, be he was open to the possibility that it might be a Ministry taskforce responding to the extensive use of magic – Harry's underage, in particular – in such a Muggle-concentrated area. He hoped fervently for some familiar faces, because he had a feeling some nameless Ministry Auror would try to pack him off to St Mungo's for healing, when in actuality he was going to barge right back into this house and fight Voldemort alongside Harry – once Hermione was safely ensconced in St Mungo's, however.

He could feel the panic at Hermione's condition welling up inside him, but he roughly stomped on it. _Now is NOT the time to panic, Weasley!_ he admonished himself internally, the knowledge that Hermione was utterly dependent on him driving him towards that which he'd rather flee. The battle drew nearer as Ron lugged Hermione down the stairs, pausing briefly to summon his courage before he stepped into the corridor.

It proved to be a wise move, as the door was suddenly ripped from its hinges as one of the plebeian Death Eaters was blasted across the corridor, slamming against the kitchen door and wedging it open. Ron gaped as the sounds of a furious battle from outside assaulted his ears, and wrenched his head around to see the neat garden of Number 4, Privet Drive in flames, blackened and charred as the cream of the Ministry's Auror division battled furiously against the unscrupulous Death Eaters. He watched as Order members appeared through the turmoil as well, lit up by various explosions near him, or suddenly becoming visible through the gaps in Death Eater line that Rubeus Hagrid was constantly creating with his flailing fists.

_Hagrid!_ Ron thought panicked, watching as six different Death Eaters aligned their wands on Hagrid's massive frame, ready to fire off some unmentionable curse. Instinctively, without causing the unconscious Hermione any added discomfort, Ron raised his still good hand, clutching his wand and aimed at the ground directly beneath the Death Eaters, crying _"INFLATIUS!_" with all he had and watching as the rudimentary posse were blown in several different directions.

Hagrid looked up in astonishment at the sudden attack, and Ron watched helplessly as his crinkled black eyes focused on Ron's charred form and suddenly overflowed with relief and hope. He slammed another Death Eater out of the way as Ron raised his wand and cursed another, before Hagrid was upon them.

"Ron! Hermione! Ruddy Merlin, we've bin' terrified fer yer!" Hagrid sang, relief evident in every syllable, as he lugged the pair onto his back and immediately shattered the rough Death Eater formation by charging through it back into the Order ranks. Ron held Hermione tightly, refusing to let her fall even slightly from his grasp, even when Hagrid lugged Ron back onto his feet back in safe territory, and he stumbled awkwardly and ended up with Hermione lying over him while he blushed furiously the whole time. Hagrid helped him out with a grim look in his eyes.

"Ron, wha' happened to Hermione?" Hagrid said, panicked. He had a genuinely horror-stricken look on his face as he cradled her limp form, and Ron gave him a look that conveyed his own horror at the situation.

"Bellatrix Lestrange… curse in the back… my fault… didn't… my fault…" Ron was entirely trembling, the shock of his injury now truly hitting him without of the distraction of Hermione's welfare to worry about. He raised his stump of a hand uselessly at Hermione, meaning to run his fingers through her hair but discovering to his dismay that they weren't there. Hagrid just gawped in horror at Ron's hand before he suddenly turned around, still holding Hermione and bellowed,

"REMUS! _REMUS_! Git' over here, ye' lousy werewolf, our Hermione's injured!" Ron squinted through the mass of people, the smoke and dust trampled up by the various curses and flailing bodies obscuring his view in time to see Remus Lupin Apparate from the chaos and appear at Hagrid's side.

"What's happened?" he asked frantically, his usually impeccably calm demeanour shattered in the flush of battle. His eyes travelled over the trembling Ron and the unconscious Hermione, and they widened, horrified. He raised his wand and immediately fired out two lithe wolf Patroni – ordinary wolves, not the were-variety – in opposite directions; one towards the battle, one towards the Order Party holding back. "Hagrid, we have to get them away from the Death Eaters, they're too close…"

"Remus, I don' reckon they'll break through here, Kingsley's line's too ruddy good…" Hagrid argued passionately, surprising Ron with the vehemence in his voice. "These kids have bin' through more tonight tha' they oughta' have ever faced…"

"I'm not arguing that Hagrid, or the proficiency of Kingsley's line. I merely want Ron nowhere near that house, because as soon as he has a new hand, he'll be clamouring to get back in there… especially… if Harry's… still alive…" Lupin trailed off here, notably paling as his eyes snapped to Ron. Ron stared back at him with resentment in his mind, clouding around the murkiness of his injury as he realised Lupin's intention to hamper his capability to help Harry.

"Harry… still alive… get Hermione to safety!" he yelled with much more clarity than he felt he had, his eyes burning with the desire to see her safe. Lupin stared at Ron carefully, before nodding just as Ron's eldest brother, Bill Weasley, Apparated to his side. His eyes widened as he took in Ron, trembling, and he immediately enveloped him in a bear-hug with a strangled cry.

"Ron! By Merlin, we thought… we were afraid…" he said hysterically. Lupin cut him off though, with a hand on his shoulder.

"Bill, this isn't about Ron. Hermione is grievously injured, and seeing as you yourself aren't exactly in tip-top condition, I think you need to take her to St. Mungo's and _stay_ with her, to make sure nothing happens to her…" Lupin said forcefully. Ron could see Bill's ire rising, but it seemed to disappear as he self-consciously ran his fingers over his were-scars. He then looked at the completely limp Hermione and his eyes widened and his back stiffened.

"You got her out, Ron?" he asked, his eyes on the prone girl. Ron nodded, which Bill caught out of the corner of his eye, and he laid a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "Mum's going to be so proud…" he said with a slight tear in his eye. Ron gulped, looking up into Bill's eyes desperately.

"Please Bill… you need to stay with her… I have to rescue Harry…" Ron said dejectedly, but set his jaw when he saw Bill and Lupin about to challenge him. "GO! SHE NEEDS HELP!" he roared, earning a determined nod from his brother and Bill Disapparated immediately. Lupin looked at Ron grimly, and motioned to his stump of a hand.

Ron hardly noticed that Minerva McGonagall had arrived, or that she and Lupin were discussing his injury with Hagrid offering several helpful points, because his mind remained firmly focused on the last time he had seen Hermione alive and well. He thought back to earlier in Dudley's bedroom, when she had stood next to him, wand raised, her cheeks flushed with the exertion of the battle, her hair mussed and her eyes alight with a fire Ron desired more than anything to be directed towards him. He remembered every detail of her battle-ready stance, from the chips of plaster in her hair – evidence of her cunning defeat of Kova and Rosier – down to the completely steady way she held her wand directly at Snape, her teeth bared in an expression of pure fearlessness.

An icy cold gripped Ron's heart as he considered what might happen to Hermione. He couldn't lose her. It was impossible. He would trade _anything_ for that, most notably himself. He just couldn't.

His reverie was broken by the stern voice of Professor McGonagall, who was staring at him sympathetically. "Well, Ron, what material would you like your new hand to be?" she asked sadly. Ron was taken aback.

"You can create a new hand for me?" he asked, incredulous.

"Yes, although it won't be muscle, sinew and blood like the last one" she said, just as sadly as before.

Ron thought to himself, remembering a scene from earlier tonight. "It'll be like Wormtail's? Not flesh, but some kind of metal?"

"If that is what you want, Ron. I would ask that you don't make it too flimsy, as it has to stand up to the beating you will undoubtedly give the first Death Eater who gets near you…" she said wryly. Ron thought hard to himself, going over everything Hermione had ever said to him in their conversations, thinking of a metal she might have mentioned that was precious to her. Later, he would cringe in mortification at such a trivial pursuit, but he quickly sprung upon a moment they'd shared last year; something that happened in the aftermath of the invitation to Slughorn's Party.

* * *

"_I… well… I suppose it is a date… we have to dress up nicely, right?" Ron suggested to Hermione timidly, flushing all the same. She met his embarrassment with a pink glow of her own, before she bit her lip attractively._

"_Well… yes, I suppose that's true" she answered nervously. "It's just… well… don't expect too much, ok? I… I haven't got any Sleekeazy's this time… so… I mean, I didn't look **that** nice at the Yule Ball, but I liked my hair…I mean, I'm not saying it was perfect, but… it looked better, I suppose, than my usual tangle…" She was rambling, and Ron couldn't help but find this completely endearing. He smiled softly at her and eased her worries._

"_You looked breathtaking at the Yule Ball…" he said as he flushed at his own daring, but felt immensely cheered to see her blanch and flush prettily. He delighted in his own ability to bring out such marvellous colour in her cheeks. "But I don't know what you're on about with your hair… I've always loved it… it's a brilliant colour, not like my hideous orange dome…" he said dejectedly. Hermione, however, delighted him further by reaching across the table and running her hands through his hair, sending shockwaves down his neck. It was a complete turnaround from the deliciously nervous Hermione from before, and he felt like he'd just lost control._

"_Copper" she announced, all that he managed to discern as he savoured the soft glide of her hands._

"_Wha… what? What's copper?" he asked stupidly, his manner lazy. He flushed at the grin Hermione shot him – she seemed to like that she could get such a reaction out of him. He groaned slightly as she answered him._

"_Your hair is copper. It's the best metal-coloured thing I've ever seen, better than anything gold. Copper might not be beautiful or shiny like gold, but it's strong, and useful, and distinct; just like you…" she said softly, watching him. His heart fluttered madly, a surge of adrenaline pumping through his veins…_

_

* * *

_

He vaguely remembered being interrupted by Ginny. Ginny and that blasted Dean Thomas arguing about Quidditch formations and Ginny rudely asking Ron for his thoughts on the best Chaser attack formations. It was one of many things he hadn't yet cleared up with Ginny yet, because that was really his one and only opportunity that arose to genuinely kiss Hermione. Shortly afterwards, Ginny had revealed that harrowing information about Viktor Krum, and Ron had screwed everything up.

He squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to think about that. He had a question to answer. "Copper" he announced determinedly to Professor McGonagall, his eyes still closed in reflection. "I want my new hand to be copper."

McGonagall looked at him shrewdly, before answering quietly. "You're quite sure of this, Mr Weasley?" Lupin and Hagrid were both looking at Ron curiously, as thought they would have liked to know why he chose such a strange-coloured metal.

Ron shrugged, non-committed, and muttered "Goes with my hair…" Lupin almost laughed at that one, but the look on Ron's face as he held up his trembling stump silenced it before he even opened his mouth.

Professor McGonagall concentrated hard on Ron's forearm in front of her, tracing the tip of her wand over it, gracing it with the physical contours of Ron's arm. Thinking back, Ron realised he couldn't ever remember Harry describing this part of Pettigrew's regeneration – he could put that down to Voldemort's magical prowess, he supposed, when compared with McGonagall's. When she was satisfied, Professor McGonagall raised her wand and muttered an incantation to herself, conjuring a globular ball of copper from the air, which she delicately reshaped into a large hand, comparing its shape against Ron's still-natural fist. When she was satisfied, she uncurled the first and directed it airily onto the end of Ron's forearm, knitting the skin to the metal with a stinging sensation that elicited a gasp from Ron.

He was astonished at the effect. His hand was suddenly _there_ again, his brain seeming to clunk back into motion. The shock that had previously been there dissipated almost at once, and Ron found himself clenching his new, copper, fist reflexively. It took him a few seconds to recover from his surprise, and then he was on his feet immediately.

"Harry's still in that house. I'm going in for him!" he announced grimly, then dared any of the three of them to deny him this right with a furious glare. Professor McGonagall looked highly affronted, but she seemed to be checking her retort; Hagrid looked shocked but also oddly awed, as though he respected Ron's courage; Lupin looked grim, his eyes trawling Ron's, searching to see if this was simple bravado or not. Finally, Lupin nodded and spoke for him.

"He's of age, and we can't stop him. Minerva, Hagrid, Ron has every right to be on the front line with us. And to be fair, he's an asset we can't afford _not_ to exploit…" he said, with a slight smile at Ron, who nodded immediately, and turned to sprint off in the direction of Privet Drive, where the chaos still reigned, the entire street set alight by wayward curses and explosions. He checked his run suddenly though, turning towards the three who had helped him.

"Hagrid, Prof… Remus… er, Headmistress McGonagall…" He said tentatively, more grateful that he knew how to express. "Er… thank you. This… I'm not being disrespectful, I just promised Harry…"

"We know, Ronald. And it's Minerva, during the holidays, at least…" Professor McGonagall said with a twinkle and a tear in her eye. Ron felt awkward, but looked her in the eye anyway and gave her an encouraging smile.

"Right Professor… now… Hagrid, can you help me get into that house?"

"Help ye'? Ruddy Merlin Ron, I'll throw ye' in mesel'…" Hagrid roared, pulling himself up to his full height and running off towards the melee with Ron immediately behind him.

Instinct took over the youngest Weasley male, as he charged into the furious fighting, raising his wand and his metallic fist together, rattling off a curse at one Death Eater and slamming his fist into another who got near enough, hearing the sickening crack of bone with a satisfaction he hadn't expected. He whirled around in the tumult, launching curses in various directions every time he saw the flash of the gold Death Eater mask, or the falling body of someone who _wasn't_ in a Death Eater mask. He lost all cohesive thought, simply blasting people out of his way, Stunning and Disarming and Impeding his way to the door, with Hagrid physically tearing apart the opposition's formations with his huge bulk.

Finally, Ron could see the last remnants of the opposition standing defiantly in front of Number 4's wrecked porch. Their orders were to keep the Order out of the house, but Ron wasn't prepared to take no for an answer. He'd gotten out; therefore, he'd get back in. Raising his wand at the six Death Eaters, he cried "_INFLATIUS!_"

The Death Eater at the front though, one Ron didn't recognise, deflected the curse right back at Ron, and he was forced to duck wildly to avoid it. He grimaced as it churned up the ground behind him with a large explosion, but being on his knees already, he wasn't toppled. He quickly roared to his feet and slammed an unbalanced Death Eater with his skin fist before charging through the stumbling mass towards the door, ducking and deflecting curses as he went.

"RON! ON YOUR LEFT!" His eyes snapped to his left as he saw Alecto Carrows emerge from the bushes and raise her wand, her eyes already screaming _Avada Kedavra_. Instinctively, Ron raised his hand to ward off the blast, but before he could even muster a paltry Shield Charm, Carrows was hit by two simultaneous Stunners from behind. Ron looked up to see Fred and George running towards him, gesturing him inside.

Ron – his mind going a mile a minute – leapt into the corridor and sent two Reductor Curses at the roof over the kitchen doorway, giving Fred and George a cover of dust and rubble to drive into the house under. To Ron's astonishment, however, they were followed by Professors Flitwick and Sprout, as well as Lee Jordan, all of whom gave Ron a bracing look as he roared out to attack the Death Eaters barricaded in the Dursley's kitchen.

Of the small garrison, three were relatively green Death Eaters. Marcus Flint – the former Slytherin Quidditch captain –, and his friends Rodger Derrick and Bobby Bole, were in their first real expedition as Voldemort's servants. The veterans of the garrison had all seen action that night already; Donna Yaxley, already Stunned once by Harry; Terence Ravens, who shared that fate; Fenrir Greyback, who had been forced into a retreat alongside Amycus Carrows, who too barricaded their way; and Brad Travers, Hermione's last victim before her subsequent cursing.

Their relative experience couldn't help them against the fury of Hagrid, however, when he broke through to the kitchen and immediately slammed his fist into Ravens' face, throwing him against the wall in a crumpled heap. Almost immediately, the surrounding Death Eaters threw a barrage of curses at him, but his Giant's Blood deflected the majority of curses, while Fred, George and Lee circled him, deflecting curses and using his huge, magically-protected bulk as a shield. Lee gave a great whooping shout when he slammed Yaxley with a Stunner, but quickly leapt behind Hagrid to avoid Greyback's furious pounce. Very quickly, Hagrid and Greyback were involved in a furious tussle, the werewolf's lupine agility a decent counter to Hagrid's supreme strength.

Ron could hardly ask for better back-up, as only Amycus seemed capable of repelling the whirling, twirling Duelling Champion that was Filius Flitwick. He leapt around tables, running up walls with cleverly placed Sticking Charms to give himself unusual angles, and threw curses under his arm, over his shoulder or upside-down, more often than not striking a Death Eater or a Shield Charm.

Pomona Sprout, on the other hand, had none of his finesse, but she was a very tough fighter, staying immovably in one spot and casting superb Shield Charms every time she was attacked, retaliating with unique and obscure curses every chance she got.

Ron himself was engaged in a desperate fury to get to Harry, and this often led to him kicking and punching the Death Eaters if he got near them. Lee's conquest of Yaxley and Hagrid's destruction of Ravens left only Amycus, Greyback and Travers along with the three green Death Eaters, none of whom seemed able to cope with Flitwick. Indeed, Bole was incapacitated with such an immovable and irreversible Tickling Charm that Flint Stunned him himself to drown out the incessant laughter. Delighted by this moment of distraction by the former Quidditch captain, Ron slammed past Derrick with a shove of his shoulder and thundered his metallic fist into Flint's astonished face, breaking his nose with a sickening crack and sending him sprawling. Before he could even get up, he was hit with "_Incarcerous!"_ and Ron was suddenly clean through on the doorway. Or he thought he was, because so engaged was Ron with trying to tug his foot free of Derrick's desperate grasp that he missed the contingent of Death Eaters that erupted through the back door, and the fact that Bellatrix Lestrange had her wand on him, a sick glee spreading across her face like the Black Plague.

"RON! LOOK OUT!" The shout came from a quarter his eyes weren't watching, but Ron's head snapped around in time to see Bellatrix roar, "_Ivalidum!", _and watch as the dark blue jet of light erupted towards him. Ron barely had time to register the fact that he needed a Shield Charm when he was suddenly slammed hard from the side and thrown unceremoniously out of the way of the charm, a strong pair of arms around his waist dragging him to the floor. There was an explosion of plaster behind them and his saviour – Fred or George – immediately cast a Shield Charm to ward off even more attacks. Ron, sensing the need for action, raised his wand and pointed it at the feet of the crowd of Death Eaters, crying "_Locomotor Mortis!"_ which hit Pettigrew's legs, locked them together and sent him sprawling on the floor.

As he fell, Wormtail grabbed Pernickle's cloak desperately allowing Flitwick to Stun him and suddenly the fight was on. The reinforcement corps of Death Eaters – including the injured Rosier and the re-armed Snape – began a furious multi-person duel with the members of the Order, who had now been joined by Kingsley Shacklebolt and a younger member Ron didn't recognise. Such was the intensity of the fight that soon the entire room was engulfed in plaster and smoke from various wayward curses, and Ron could hardly seen two feet in front of him. He Stunned anything in black that got close enough, but before long he had lost patience with his reduced vision. His lack of foresight had resulted in several unseemly cuts and bruises from various hexes.

Thinking furiously, Ron reasoned that he had to clear this dust from the sky. He deflected a wayward Stunner from his right while wracking his brains for a charm that would fit the situation. _Think, Weasley! You know Hermione would have one right at the tip of her tongue!_ His thoughts of Hermione, however, only intensified his anger, and as he whirled back to the smoke and dust, he spotted Bellatrix Lestrange again.

Terrifying and spectral, she swept out of the clouds of chaos, her cloak billowing around her, her dark, silky hair framing her waxen, once-beautiful face and her eyes glittering with malice and destruction. She watched, as a panther might lazily watch a chimp swinging idly from branch to branch, unnoticed yet coiled to spring, as Fred emerged from the smoke, looking for someone to duel with. Bella's eyes flashed, her wand was raised.

Ron felt a vicious tug in the area of his chest, his throat constricting with fear. He tried to shout out to Fred, but the chalk and dust in his mouth made it impossible. Instead, his feet propelled himself forward immediately. _If only I can get in front of that curse…_

He was too late. Fred had turned around, his eyes wide at seeing Lestrange standing in front of him, and a flicker of fear crossed his face, before he raised his wand to defend himself.

Too late.

Bellatrix's curse had already struck him, hard, in the chest. Fred groaned in agony and immediately clutched his chest, the blood draining from his face as he fell to his knees and coughed, blood splattering out of his mouth.

"FRED" Ron heard himself scream at the same time as George, who had appeared at his side. Instinctively, his still standing twin brother raised his wand at Bella and cried "_STUPEFY!_" but she simply melted back into the smoke, effectively cackling at her own malice. Ron didn't care. He was cradling Fred's head on his knees, blood seeping out of his mouth as he struggled to get his eyes to focus.

"George! You have to get him to St Mungo's!" Ron said, his panic-stricken eyes finding those of his brother, who looked utterly desolate at the injury of his twin. George took a second to process this, before his eyes hardened and he immediately lifted Fred into his arms. In that second, Lee Jordan emerged from the cloud, nursing a seeping shoulder wound, but he went still at the sight of Fred.

"Oh Merlin!" he said, paling. Ron, sympathetic all the same, didn't have time for this. "Lee, we need to cover George's exit!" Lee nodded immediately, and suddenly the two of them ran for the door, blasting two Death Eaters out of the way and allowing George Fred to pass out of the kitchen and head for the front door. As Ron turned, however, he felt his heart suddenly stop, his entire frame freeze.

Gone was the vicious cloud of smoke. Gone were the wayward curses and launched bodies. Instead, Flitwick, Sprout, Shacklebolt and the unknown Order member stood frozen, wands raised, pointing at the figure in the doorway, whose eyes were settled not on Lestrange, Pernickle, Carrows, Travers, Rosier, Snape and Pettigrew around him, but on the unconscious Hagrid, lying on his back in the corner on top of a thoroughly crushed and thoroughly dead Marcus Flint.

And Lord Voldemort didn't look happy.

* * *

Harry cursed his luck as he pulled himself up from his feet. _I had him where I bloody wanted him, and I let him escape,_ he lamented unhappily. Limping badly, Harry looked about for his phoenix, Hera, who had been instrumental in his survival of Voldemort assault. She was swooping low over the trees in the neighbour's gardens, but at a look from Harry, she swept across to him and landed on his shoulder, her thick, pearly tears already running down the wounds on his back and shoulders.

Feeling rejuvenated from her healing properties, Harry took up his wand again and looked back towards the house. The kitchen was alight with chaos, and the smoke was evident to all around. Muggles in neighbouring gardens were watching him, appalled, from their windows. Harry was sure the Ministry would deal with them, but all the same, he couldn't help feel nervous at such a breach of Muggle-wizard security. He risked a glance up at his Aunt and Uncle's bedroom, and he suddenly felt his stomach plummet.

There in the room was Dudley, unmistakeably fighting with a hooded black figure. Horror-stricken, Harry immediately raised his wand at the window, and – taking careful aim – cried _"STUPEFY!_" The curse took an age to get there, but it successfully smashed through the window and hit the Death Eater in the face. Harry watched him crumple and kept his wand trained on the window in the event that he had an accomplice up there. No-one came. Barring anything that happened before, the Dursleys – or Dudley at least – were safe.

Trying desperately not to think about them, Harry summoned his courage and charged towards the back door, blasting his way through the metal one Riddle had constructed behind him. The door flew off its hinges and slammed into one of the Death Eaters guarding the door, and Harry immediately froze the other one. The rest turned at the sound of the chaos, but Harry could only look on in horror as Lee Jordan, Ron and Professor Flitwick cried out in fury and attacked Voldemort, at whose feet lay the lifeless body of Professor Sprout.

A cold numbing sensation penetrated Harry's blood, and he suddenly roared his fury. He pointed his wand at the nearest Death Eater, one who had grabbed him, and cried, _"RELASHIO!"_ The man stumbled back, his with a jet of hot air, as Harry swung his wand around in an arc and thought furiously, _"Incendio Arcus!"_ The jet of flame whipped through the air like an arc and caught every Death Eater with it, setting a portion of their cloaks on fire. But Harry had no time for them. He charged through the mass, Voldemort his only target.

"RIDDLE! STAND AND FIGHT, YOU COWARD!" he screamed, furious.

Voldemort just regarded him with a cruel smile, but all the same deflected the curse he had unwittingly thrown. "A true general knows when to fight and knows when not to, Potter…" he spat, before hurling a curse at him. Harry dodged around it and charged Voldemort, his wand raised, but he immediately swept around, casting a Disorientation Charm behind him, which Harry walked into. Suddenly the entire room swam, and Harry struggled to get his bearings.

Within seconds, however, Ron had cancelled the charm, and still had enough presence of mind to Stun the rear retreating Death Eater, Travers, as he plunged through the doorway. Harry was up immediately, following the running contingent that had managed to force their way back onto the battleground of the front lawn and were now attacking the Order forces. Furious at the death of Professor Sprout, so unnecessary, Harry plunged out onto the lawn and started hacking Death Eaters out of his way with curses and hexes. He barely registered Ron at his side, fighting just as furiously, because he was so focused on breaking through their ranks to get to Voldemort, who had turned to face the Order and now had his wand trained on the back of a small wizard, usually so jovial, who was fighting desperately to stave off the Death Eaters.

"DEDALUS! GET DOWN!" It was too late. Diggle had barely registered Harry's voice when the _Avada Kedavra_ curse hit him in the back, thrown by Voldemort. He hit the ground, and Harry erupted.

Hatred such as he had never known coursed through his veins, a righteous anger he had flexed before but never truly unleashed. There was a wild screech above him, and his phoenix dived at Voldemort as he himself raised his wand, crying "_AVADA KEDAVRA!" _Riddle was too fast, dodging it, but Harry was on him immediately, hammering his Shield with a Stunner, then a Hurling Hex; a Cruciatus Curse, a Blasting Hex, another Cruciatus Curse, a dodged _Avada Kedavra_, two more Stunners, _Incarcerous_, _Immobilus, Impedimenta, _a final Stunner which shattered Voldemort's Shield Charm. Harry had him where he wanted him, he had him, but then he cheated.

Voldemort raised his wand, pointed it at Ron and sneered, "_Crucio!" _Ron was taken by surprise and was suddenly writhing on his knees screaming in agony. Harry, filled with horror, dragged his wand away from Voldemort and cancelled the curse on Ron, but it was all the opening Voldemort needed. With a last, high, icy blast of laugh, he Disapparated with a great crack.

The Death Eaters gave a great keening roar of defiance, and then they too, with a series of smattered pops, vacated the premises too. Harry looked around, horrified at the carnage, and then to Ron, who had climbed to his feet, and was only barely trembling.

"We did it Harry…" he muttered, clearly horrified at everything he'd seen. Ron didn't say anything for a few seconds, and then looked to Harry as if something terrible had happened. "I… we have to go and see Hermione!" he said desperately, the pain evident in his eyes. Harry stared at Ron, and was about to nod compliance, when a horrible thought erupted in his brain.

_Dudley_.

Suddenly abandoning Ron, Harry turned and sprinted towards the house, his exhaustion nonexistent in such a furious fear. He thundered past Lupin, who tried to stop him and immediately followed him, but Harry had only one thought: _get to my aunt and uncle's room_. Ignoring the carnage in the hallway, Harry stopped dead when he saw the missing door frame. He remembered the Imperturbable, but he couldn't remember who had cast it.

Trembling, Harry walked through the door, hearing Dudley's keening whimper before he saw his cousin, kneeling on the floor, cradling his battered and bloody mother's head on his lap, while his father, Harry's Uncle Vernon, lay spread out on the floor, his eyes wide and unfocused. He was dead.

Filled with a sudden fury again, that anyone would attack defenceless Muggles, Harry walked over to the unconscious Death Eater and flipped him over, kicking the mask from his face and then freezing in shock as he stared at the face. The Death Eater on the floor was well known to him, despite the remnants of Dudley's boxing defence and the glass shards from Harry's stunner. He'd recognise that face anywhere. And for the second time in a week, one of the people who'd looked after Harry throughout his life had been taken from him by Draco Malfoy.

**This chapter was extremely hard to write, I suffered chronic writer's block throughout, but I finally got it finished. It's critical to the plot, but I promise those that wanted to hear what happened between Harry and Voldemort in the back garden only have to wait one chapter. It's an extremely important part of the plot and I want to do it justice.  
**


	7. Where You Least Expect It

**Author's Note**

** Again, sorry for the long wait for the chapter, but I've been seriously overworked lately. Here's hoping you enjoy it!**

_Disclaimer – Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling, not me. Only some original characters are mine._

**Chapter Seven – Where You Least Expect It**

Ginny ignored the slowly increasing numbness in her forehead as she pressed the stump of her palms into it in an attempt to will away all the exhaustion and mental stress from the last day with a dose of wand-less magic. It was fruitless, she knew, because it would take nothing short of a good 12 hours of dreamless sleep to bring back any of the emotional energy she'd expended over her brother, the love of her life and her best girlfriend. She had been so distraught over the situation when Bill had told her – shortly after dropping Hermione at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries – that she had broken down in his arms and was still sniffling when she was brought into Hermione's ward.

The state of her friend had terrified her: Hermione had sported several minor cuts to the face and arms, that glowed an unnatural dirty red against the clammy paleness of her skin; there was a large, unsightly bruise on her left bicep, where –she learned later from Harry's account – she'd collided unceremoniously with the wall; but worst of all we perhaps the timidity of her breathing, the barely perceptible rise of her breast as she took small, almost invisible breaths. It was this lack of deep breathing that scared Ginny the most and convinced her unwontedly that Hermione was not simply sleeping off her injuries.

_Comatose_, the Healer had pronounced her. Ginny's entire body had nearly wilted under the shock of such a statement, but the Healer assured both her and Bill that her condition was extremely stable, and best of all, treatable. _The only catch, Mr and Miss Weasley, _he had said, _is that Miss Granger still has traces of the curse she was struck with hovering around her, preventing us from breaking her out of this trance. Before we can begin the healing process, we'll need to break those curses…_

Bill, the big sweetheart that he was, had volunteered immediately. His experience as a curse breaker in Egypt had taught him loads of Dark Curses, he had announced. But the Healer shooed this proposal away, saying that they'd have to do some tests on the curses first and foremost, before they could even hope to try and break it. They'd need to know exactly what the curse had _done_ to Hermione to leave her comatose. The least it could have done was simply put her brain functions into stasis; the worst case scenario was that it could have shut down her brain functions entirely. This had chilled Ginny to the marrow, because – as the Healer pronounced gravely – it could lead to severely reduced functionality when she awoke, or even worse, none at all.

Bill had reassured her that this was not bad news, because there was simply the chance that her brain was in 'stasis' – it didn't help her keep calm when his voice had cracked here, as though he didn't exactly believe what he was saying – and that she'd be the Hermione of old again, with only a slight bit of trauma.

As bad as her own reaction had been – tears, desperate anger, resentment -, however, there was no question that Harry's had been worse, and Ron's twenty times so.

Both had effectively charged past the Healer into the room, with a security detail of Aurors tailing them both, trying to keep them calm. Their efforts had, naturally, been completely unsuccessful, but as soon as they both entered the room, they slammed to a halt and stared, haunted, at Hermione's pale form.

Ron had cracked first, whimpering her name and immediately moving to her side, clasping her cold hand and staring at her face with an expression of one whose puppy has just been run over. He stroked her hand softly and stared at her with slowly filling eyes, trying desperately to keep it together. It had been a harrowing sight, to see her Little-Big Brother Ron trying so desperately to keep from crying, from losing control.

Harry, on the other hand, hadn't moved. His eyes hadn't left Hermione, but all the colour was gone from his face. He had appeared to be wavering on the spot, and she had immediately left her chair to throw her arms around him, whispering "It's not your fault, Harry… it's not…" She knew, even in that moment of utter despair, that awkwardness between them, exactly what he was thinking, exactly who he was blaming.

Dispassionately, he had removed her arms from around his head, not looking at her, and pushed her gently aside, not wanting comfort. Then he had spoken aloud the room at large, even though he was clearly answering Ginny.

_It is my fault. She's my friend, and I abandoned her._

Ginny had felt terrible at this, not knowing the details to reconcile him. But Ron had leapt to the defence of his actions immediately.

_Your fault? How is this your fault, Harry? She wasn't… this isn't… I let this happen! Not you! You… it wasn't your responsibility… you didn't have to…_

Anger. Harry got angry with him. She hadn't expected it.

_Not my responsibility! Ron, she's my best friend… and I let that BITCH LESTRANGE GET TO HER!_

_No… no you didn't… I was the one… I was fighting her… I… I wasn't… I wasn't good enough… I couldn't protect her…_

Ron had appeared utterly broken, a stark contrast from a furious Harry. The Aurors and Bill were standing well back, watching as Harry fought to retain control while Ron fought for a different kind of control.

_It's not _just_ YOUR JOB to protect her Ron! I'm her best friend, I'm supposed to be Harry Potter, I'm supposed to be some kind of saviour and I couldn't even protect my own best friend!_

Ginny had cracked at that, her own tears returning afresh, as she tried to reconcile him, tell him that it wasn't his fault, that no-one's life was his responsibility. He would have none of it.

_NO! I'M… DUMBLEDORE GAVE ME THE STRENGHT TO FIGHT RIDDLE, AND ALL I USED IT FOR WAS TO ATTACK AN OLD MAN, AND TO LET DEDALUS DIGGLE, AND PROFESSOR SPROUT… and… and Hermione… I FUCKING LET HER GET HURT!_

_SHUT UP, HARRY! GODDAMN IT'S SHUT UP! IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!_

Ron. He was just as angry, then.

_Yes it is… it always is…_

_IT'S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT YOU, HARRY! I'M THE ONE WHO LET HER DOWN! IT'S MY JOB TO PROTECT HER!_

This appeared to be the wrong thing to say. Everyone in the room at the time could see this was an argument borne of grief and exhaustion and a plethora of feelings neither young man could control.

_IT'S NOT YOUR JOB, RON! YOU'RE NOT HER BOYFRIEND! YOU HAVE NO MORE CLAIM TO HER THAN I DO!_

This was definitely the wrong thing to say, because – and Ginny found herself cringing at the memory – Ron had snapped and inexplicably launched himself at Harry, slamming his fist into his best friend's face. She – along with everyone else in the room – had been truly astonished to hear the crack of Harry's jaw, as well as seeing the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived, hit the deck after one punch. Only Ron seemed to understand, as he stared at his hand in numb disbelief, his face devoid of all colour.

Right on cue, Remus Lupin arrived, and – recognising what had happened – instructed the Healer to cure Harry's injury and wake him up. Harry then stumbled to his feet groggily, to find Ginny fussing over him, her eyes wide with fear for him. She had been forced to watch the internal struggle this attention brought out in him, but what pained her more than anything that night so far, was watching him screw up his eyes against her and push her away gently, clenching his teeth so as not to give in. It was a painful reminder of their status, and Harry's unwillingness to go into it. But his eyes were dutifully found Ron, sobbing in the corner with his hands over his eyes, and he climbed to his feet and walked over.

Ron's tear-drowned, sapphire eyes found Harry's warm, emerald eyes and he suddenly stopped crying, raising his hand to Harry, slipping back the robe to reveal a shiny copper hand with slight flecks of blood on the knuckles.

_Look what that bitch did to my hand, Harry. What she did to Fred. What she did to Hermione… why? Why did we let her get away?_

And Ron broke down again, as Harry pulled him into a bone-crushing hug and assured him that it wasn't his fault, that it was Lestrange's fault, and that nothing she could ever do would save her from their retribution.

Now, almost three hours later, Ginny reflected for the umpteenth time on what had happened when Ron had fallen asleep. He still lay snoozing at the foot of Hermione's bed, a pillow handily placed to balance his slack face on. He had played his part in relaying the events of that night, their words completely reviewed by Lupin and Tonks, forcing Harry and Ron to relive the traumatic experience of the battle; and then Healer Stubbs, who had needed the details exactly of the curse Hermione had been hit with, as well as the details of the curse Fred had suffered, had asked for relayed information as well. Harry, however, had deliberately exempted the information about his own personal showdown with Voldemort – for reasons known only to him, sadly – and had immediately left the room – and Ron, if Ginny allowed herself to use this a paltry excuse for his complete lack of recognition regarding her – to 'go for a walk'.

She hadn't yet worked up the courage to follow him, but it was tempting. She remembered the horrified look on Harry's face when he had heard about all the deaths and injuries suffered that night, as though he still completely blamed himself. That had wrung her heart in a way she hoped never to feel for him again.

_We found seven unconscious Death Eaters, all of whom have been transferred to Azkaban, as well as four dead, the causes of which only one is known: that of Marcus Flint, who Hagrid crushed when he was finally Stunned. _It had been Lupin who had been so formal about it.

_Who was killed? _The hollowness of Harry's voice was unbearable for her. She missed his joyful, soulful laugh, his delighted smile after a good snog…

_We found Narcissa Malfoy in your room, Harry. She was pinned against the wall by a trapped table, but that didn't seem to be a cause of death. It looked like a wayward Avada Kedavra curse, to be honest…_

_That was me. I killed her with Avada Kedavra._ The absurdity of Ron's statement hadn't even registered when she saw the quiet rage on his face, at himself and at the Malfoy he had murdered. She had known it was true, then, as much as she found it impossible to believe of her brother.

_Podrice Gnarle seemed to have been hit with some kind of electric curse, which apparently, according the emergency Mediwizards, gave him a premature heart attack and killed him…_

_WHAT!_ Harry this time, and genuinely astonished. Ginny remembered being desperate to leap from her seat and wrap him in her arms when he realised that his Thunderbolt Curse had killed a man, when it was supposed to be non-fatal. Harry was not a murderer; he couldn't be… no more than Ron was…

_Ingrid Kova was buried under the remains of the Dursley family bathroom…_

Ron managed to trace that one to Hermione, which made each of the three of them indirectly responsible for the death of one of the Death Eaters, as well as Hagrid, the other member of their first year friendship. It scared Ginny, to think that this war had immersed them so deeply in it already that each had a death on their hands.

_We found Goyle and Ferguson upstairs, incapacitated, as well as Malfoy – Draco, that is – who you took out, Harry. Rosier was out back, somehow up a tree. We found the other three – Yaxley, Bole and Derrick – in the kitchen, Stunned._

Ron claimed Bole and Derrick; Harry, Malfoy and Rosier. It didn't really matter though. The Death Eater casualties could have numbered in the hundreds and it wouldn't have taken away the pain of the losses the Order had suffered. Pomona Sprout had been killed, without any flourish, by Voldemort himself, and Dedalus Diggle had suffered a similar fate. Alastor Moody – Mad-Eye, the heroic Auror and champion of the post-Voldemort years – had been the Order guard on Privet Drive that night. He had been attacked, tortured and then kidnapped by the Death Eaters, who left his wooden leg behind with the message of what they'd done scrawled into it. Kingsley Shacklebolt had suffered a vicious Sectumsempra curse, from an unknown assailant, and had lost a hell of a lot of blood; and Hestia Jones had been burned alive by two particularly vicious Death Eaters. Worst of all, however, was the fate of Elphias Doge, who had been butchered indiscriminately by an ambush, and then stitched back together like some sick puppet and made to do battle as an Inferi.

She knew what would be troubling Harry. He'd be blaming himself for such an extensive list of casualties to the Order ranks, he'd think that it was his fault that all these things happened. Harry had wised up to the situation over the past year, no longer blaming _every single_ event that the Death Eaters did on his own futility to help and his own targeted person, but not even Ginny could dispel the sense of guilt he must be feeling over the fates of his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. No-one could deny that they were involved in this purely because of Harry. The thought was surely making him physically sick…

And yet… her musings about Harry had not been in vain. She had come to the conclusion that the Dursleys couldn't very well have accepted Harry without realising the consequences. Dumbledore would not have kept them in the dark, surely? Although no-one had ever told her why, Ginny couldn't help but think that Vernon and Petunia Dursley must have _decided_ to keep Harry at some point; in fact, thinking about it like that made it seem almost understandable why they treated him so badly. They took him in to protect him, when they didn't want him, and therefore treated him horribly without actually kicking him out.

She would have to talk to Harry about this. He would need her, even if he didn't think he did. She couldn't let him sink under the weight of his own grief. She had to keep him afloat, not just for himself, but for everyone who was depending on him.

She shot a glance at Ron as he rose from her seat, smiling in spite of herself at the relaxed way he slept while still keeping his hands clenched tightly around Hermione's. It was wonderfully endearing and so un-Ron-like and romantic that it gave her strength for the train wreck of her own love life she was about to pull the survivors from.

"I won't be gone long, Ron, Hermione…" she whispered to them both, not exactly feeling sick at leaving them as much as she was at their combined plight, before slipping out of the room in search of Harry.

* * *

Harry was beginning to wish he hadn't had this particular brainwave. He could hear his cousin's whimpering from behind the divider around his aunt's bed, and he truly had no idea what he might say to Dudley. None of the Dursleys had ever given Harry any reason to feel any kind of remorse or sympathy for them, but he couldn't suppress the undeniable feelings of guilt about what his mere presence in Dudley's house had inevitably done to his family. His father was dead and his mother was on the brink of death, and they'd never done anything, really, to deserve it.

Harry had given a lot of thought to the whole night's events in the last few hours, after leaving the stricken Grangers with a brief account of what had happened to their daughter. Neither Mr nor Mrs Granger had blamed him, but Harry felt like what happened to Hermione was partly his fault anyway. He felt sick every time he remembered the way he had left her on her own to tackle Pettigrew and Amycus, and even worse at the way she'd trusted him to take them out. He'd clearly failed to do it quickly enough, leaving her open long enough to suffer a direct attack.

His thoughts on Ron had been much darker and harder to explain. Harry would never again have any doubts about Ron's loyalty and valour, where he was concerned. His best friend had risked all to get to him, to rescue him from a situation where his life was in danger. But Harry couldn't help feel uneasy at Ron's devotion to Hermione, in a way that made him sick at himself. He had seen how hard it had been for Ron to turn his back on Hermione and help him, but at the same time, he had made it seem much easier to stay with her. The thought of Ron's loyalty to Hermione made him more than a little jealous…

But then he felt sick with himself. This was Ron the prefect all over again. Who was he to feel jealous just because Ron showed as much loyalty to his other best friend as he did to him, Harry? Harry had no right to a monopoly on Ron's loyalty, and besides, Hermione had _certainly_ needed Ron more at that point. Harry was gifted with strength from the Endowment Charm, while Hermione had been incapacitated.

If he was completely honest with himself, he knew the cause of his jealousy. He'd known it for around a year, and had stoutly refused to acknowledge it; it had even gone away during the last few months as Harry himself knew some of that happiness. Now, it appeared, his jealousy had returned in greater strength, no doubt bolstered by the knowledge of exactly what Ron and Hermione might have that he couldn't.

Because, in reality, Harry didn't feel threatened by Hermione's _friendship_ with Ron; no, he felt threatened by what that friendship could become. Ron and Hermione… well, they'd been dancing around the issue long enough, but he, Harry, certainly wasn't going to play the particular song that would force them together. They deserved happiness, he knew, but he wasn't sure he could stomach them being together when he himself left Ginny behind; when he had given up Ginny because he _had_ to, while Ron and Hermione get to stay together because he needed them.

Despite the fact that he hadn't felt this disappointed in himself since his internal tantrum over Ron's being made prefect, he acknowledged that it probably gave him a better chance of dealing with the feelings of unease for their friendship if he recognised and confronted them. He knew it was better to settle the matter on his own rather than blow up about it to either one, as he had done tonight with Ron.

Dudley's whimpering brought him crashing back to Earth. Harry felt sick, suddenly, remembering where he was and what he'd come to do. Gritting his teeth, he felt in his pocket for his wand, reassuring himself with its smooth strength, and then walked around the curtain so that Dudley could see him.

His cousin – still massive, still unhealthily bulbous in places but at the same time, oddly muscular in his arms and legs – didn't show any signs of having seen him. His watery, tear-stained eyes were focused on his mother, Petunia Dursley, who now drew Harry's eyes with a kind of horrific fascination.

Petunia had suffered terribly at the hands of Malfoy. Her pale, horse-like face was covered in criss-crossing pink scars, her bony cheeks sunken and bruised-looking against her papery skin. Harry could see the network of tiny scars continued unabated down her arms, and he felt a strong up-welling of guilt beginning in his throat. He watched the quiet flicker of his aunt's eyelids as her dreams troubled her, and could practically hear the creak of her bones as she turned her head. He must have made some kind of noise of distress, however, as Dudley's ear practically pricked up, and his eyes snapped to Harry's.

For a few seconds, Harry could only stare into the conflicting emotions of horror and fury roaring away in Dudley's eyes, before he was forced to say something to relieve the horrible tension of the situation. "Dudley…" he began sombrely, almost choking on the word, before he coughed and tried again. "Dudley… listen… I…" But Harry was struck by a previously unimaginable level of shame – at least, in regards to Dudley Dursley – when he realised he had absolutely nothing to say. He mouthed soundlessly for a few seconds before Dudley cut his futile attempts off.

"Your fault! This is all your fault, Potter!" he hissed, anger etched into his swollen features, the creases in his cheeks contracting in his fury. Harry was taken aback by the venom in his voice, as Dudley continued accusing him. "My dad took you in, you son of a bitch, and you're the reason he's dead!"

"Dudley… wait… it _is _my fault… but…" Before he could say anything else, however, Harry was startled to find Dudley's piggy fingers wrapped angrily around his throat, and the other hand balled into a slowly advancing ham hawk. Instinctively, Harry jerked out of the way of the flying fist and was only caught by a glancing blow, but this was enough to send him stumbling against the wall, caught off guard.

Dudley immediately advanced on him, slamming his fist into Harry's sternum, sending waves of agony up to Harry's brain and thoroughly knocking the wind from him, before Dudley's meaty forearm slammed itself into his throat, immediately cutting off his air supply. Harry grasped and scrabbled at his arm and face desperately, staring fearfully into Dudley's cold, smoky, grey eyes, the unfocused way his eyes seemed to bore through him…

_What?_

_No!_

_Unfocused? Grey? No way!_

_Dudley was bewitched!_

In the intervening seconds between Harry realising that Dudley's eyes were the wrong colour, and that he was under the Imperius Curse, the ward door slammed open and Harry briefly saw a flash of red hair before he suddenly remembered he had a wand. Clutching it tightly, he forced himself to cast "_Expelliarmus"_ non-verbally, and was satisfied to see Dudley stumble away from him, surprised.

"Get your hands off him, you fat lump!" It was Ginny, Harry noted with intense relief. She had her eyes on Dudley, her wand raised threateningly. Dudley just stared at her, his eyes greedy with vacant malice, before he slowly advanced on her.

Instinctively, Harry threw his wand up to curse Dudley before he even got near her, but this was a mistake. Dudley reacted with all his boxer's instincts, gripping Harry's wrist and twisting it, sending further waves of agony up his arm and forcing him to drop his wand, which Dudley promptly caught. Astonished to see Dudley Dursley holding a wand – an item which had never failed to inspire terror in him during the entire time Harry had known he was a wizard – it was nothing compared to the shock of seeing him turn the wand on Ginny and roar, "_CRUCIO!_"

Ginny reacted admirably, clearly just as astonished as everyone else at the developments, but deflected the curse quickly before firing back her own hex. Dudley managed to block it with the Shield Charm, and Harry was simply gobsmacked to witness his former girlfriend duke it out with his fat, spoiled cousin in a Wizard's Duel. The resulting casualties happened to be the two Aurors who had come to see what the commotion was, having been Stunned by two perfectly aimed Stunners from Dudley. His magical skill seemed to stem directly from the curse, but Harry was starting to wonder exactly who was controlling him this expertly, and was this aware of what was going on – such as when to have Dudley duck and when to have him fight back.

His eyes scanned the room, looking for signs of perhaps a Disillusionment Charm, or an Invisibility Cloak. But inevitably, they were drawn back to Ginny Vs Dudley, as the fiery-haired witch struck Dudley hard in the face with a _Furnunculus_ Jinx, causing him to sprout unseemly boils all over his podgy cheeks. Harry took the immediate opportunity to snatch his own wand from Dudley's hand, raise it at him and cry, "_STUPEFY!"_

The curse hit Dudley square in the chest, and he floated for a few seconds in a standing position, before crumpling the floor. Harry's eyes immediately scanned the room, but all he could discern was a quiet popping noise, only barely perceptible over his own heart hammering in his chest, which signified that someone had Disapparated.

What followed a few seconds of absolute silence, punctuated only by the noises that came from the rest of the hospital, as well as Harry and Ginny's heavy breathing. Finally, Harry felt it was time someone broke the weary silence, and he spoke up with a heavy heart. "He was… under the Imperius Curse, I think… I'm sure of it, I heard someone Disapparate from this very room!" His voice grew steadily stronger and more panicked, the more he said, and the Healer was not slow to realise exactly what he'd just said.

"Mr Potter, I assure you, our security is…"

"There was someone here, someone controlling Dudley! There's no way he could be that good a duelling without being a puppet to someone who was equally as good!"

"Mr Potter… while I admit – grudgingly – that it is possible to Disapparate from rooms in the hospital on this floor – mostly to allow our Healers a chance to escape any dangerous situations – you could only go as far as the hallways, so…"

"Then alert security! Whoever they were, they were invisible, and you need to set traps or something on the nearest Apparition point!" Harry was fuming with rage at the scepticism of the Healer, but it appeared he was coming around to Harry's point, albeit gradually.

"You're quite certain Dudley Dursley was incapable of such Duelling on his own? Perhaps he's been practicing on his own?"

"How is that possible? He's a Muggle!"

The Healer seemed absolutely astonished at this news, as he stared at Harry, then to the limp form of Dudley on the floor, and then to Ginny and finally Harry again. "A Muggle?"

"Yes!"

He simply nodded, conjuring a note out of thin air and scrawling a message onto it, before charming it to fly to wherever it was he wanted to send the message to. It was the same system that was used in the Ministry of Magic, and Harry wasn't surprised to see him use it.

It was Ginny, however, who provided the most interesting point and the one Harry had meant to ask about as soon as the security situation was resolved. "Healer… er…"

"Alexandros" the Greek man said with a small smile.

"Healer Alexandros… I didn't realise you could use the Imperius Curse to give a Muggle magical ability…" She was frowning and looking down at Dudley, and Harry realised for the first time just how simply astonishing she looked with the afterglow of battle on her cheeks. Her freckled cheeks were a delicious-pink colour, and her tousled red locks framed her dancing chocolate eyes, alight with the thrill of the fight, and dragged out the deepest and most powerful emotions from them.

Still wondering exactly where the poetry had come from, Harry snapped his attention back to Healer Alexandros when he astonished both he and Ginny with some truly dumbfounding news.

"Well… you can't I'm afraid… for that spell to work the way it did, the victim would almost certainly have to have some magical ability in his blood…"

This left Harry and Ginny gaping at each other, with Harry's head reeling from the astonishment of it all. His eyes travelled to his bloated cousin, lying unconscious on the floor, as his mind struggled to process this most shocking information.

_Dudley Dursley was a **wizard**?_

_

* * *

_

Meanwhile, miles way, in a much darker and unhealthier place, another person who was unfortunately bound up in Dudley Dursley's sad story was thrown unceremoniously into his cell in Azkaban, hitting the stone floor painfully and immediately clutching his throbbing head, still bruised from being waylaid with the Stunner.

Draco Malfoy blinked away his pain as his escort from the Apparition point turned on their heels and stalked off, slamming the cell door shut behind them. He groaned audibly as he moved his head to better take in his cell, feeling his brain cry out in process at being asked to look and move at the same time.

"Draco!"

The incredulity in that voice cut Draco to the core, as did its familiarity. He slowly revolved on the spot, taking in the fairly clean nature of the cell before his eyes fell on the double bunk bed and upon the man sitting on the lower one, his blonde hair falling around his truly astonished face. Draco felt immediately sick to see him, and completely unsure of how to react.

"Father…" he spluttered, completely at sea. Lucius Malfoy just smiled darkly, and spoke to him with a highly condescending tone.

"Not even a Death Eater for a year and already you're in Azkaban… dear, dear, Draco, I'm certain I raised you better that this…" He shook his head as though disappointed, and this stung Draco to the core.

"That's a bit rich, _Lucius_, considering how you've been in here for my entire tenure as a Death Eater. And, I'll have you know, I'm being sentenced on some trumped-up charge for having assisted in the murder of Professor Dumbledore… capturing the Malfoy son is the latest Ministry success, apparently…"

"And how exactly did they capture you, Draco? Were you too busy ogling the girls you were supposed to be killing? I suspect it was some failing of your age, some inability to call upon the Malfoy nobility… or worse, you were beaten by that Mudblood cretin, Harry Potter?"

Draco stared viciously at his father. Azkaban had certainly twisted his judgement, but it also interested Draco to know just how far out of the loop his father was after his cock-up in the Department of Mysteries. He didn't even know about the assault tonight.

"How's your mother?" he asked abruptly, and Draco was hit by a wave of nausea he hadn't expected.

_Mother._

He stared into the cold grey eyes of his father, and suddenly found himself unwilling to tell Lucius. That slice of revenge was his alone. When he re-entered Voldemort's service, it wouldn't be Lucius who would head the division designed to bring about the death of Ron Weasley and his entire blood-traitorous, vermin-infested family. It would be him, Draco.

"She's fine, father; perfectly fine. We'll see her in a week…"

"A week?" Lucius asked in surprise. "She's going to come and visit? Isn't that… that's plain reckless… I must write her and discourage her from this particular…"

"No, father; Mother isn't coming her to visit. But the Dark Lord is, and he's bringing his explosive along for the party."

**Ah, Draco. One of my favourite characters. I hope I portrayed him OK, as I've never tried him before. Any problems with it, be sure to let me know!**


End file.
